Raymond James & Associates Boosts Holdings in Sandy Spring Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:SASR)

Raymond James & Associates grew its holdings in shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:SASR) by 5.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 11,384 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 551 shares during the quarter. Raymond James & Associates’ holdings in Sandy Spring Bancorp were worth $258,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. BlackRock Inc. raised its stake in shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp by 3.2% during the third quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 4,277,133 shares of the bank’s stock worth $150,812,000 after acquiring an additional 133,565 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp by 0.7% during the second quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,986,559 shares of the bank’s stock worth $116,685,000 after acquiring an additional 22,123 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp by 0.9% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,800,845 shares of the bank’s stock worth $98,758,000 after acquiring an additional 25,086 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp by 5.1% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,635,944 shares of the bank’s stock worth $68,482,000 after acquiring an additional 127,698 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp by 26.0% in the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,544,678 shares of the bank’s stock worth $40,131,000 after purchasing an additional 318,446 shares during the last quarter. 68.57% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SASR has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday. DA Davidson cut shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $28.00 to $22.00 in a report on Monday, October 2nd. Finally, Piper Sandler cut their target price on shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp from $24.00 to $22.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 30th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, According to MarketBeat.com, Sandy Spring Bancorp presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $25.25.

Sandy Spring Bancorp Stock Performance

NASDAQ:SASR opened at $20.97 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $941.55 million, a P/E ratio of 7.21 and a beta of 0.93. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $21.04 and its 200 day simple moving average is $22.32. Sandy Spring Bancorp, Inc. has a twelve month low of $19.27 and a twelve month high of $36.18. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79.

Sandy Spring Bancorp Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 8th will be issued a $0.34 dividend. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 7th. Sandy Spring Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 46.74%.

About Sandy Spring Bancorp

Sandy Spring Bancorp, Inc operates as the bank holding company for Sandy Spring Bank that provides commercial and retail banking, mortgage, private banking, and trust services to individuals and businesses in Central Maryland, Northern Virginia, and Washington, DC It operates in two segments, Community Banking and Investment Management.