Gamco Investors INC. ET AL Buys 5,574 Shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:SASR)

Gamco Investors INC. ET AL lifted its stake in Sandy Spring Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:SASR) by 2.4% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 234,860 shares of the bank’s stock after buying an additional 5,574 shares during the quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL’s holdings in Sandy Spring Bancorp were worth $5,444,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in SASR. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp in the fourth quarter worth about $8,423,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,240,530 shares of the bank’s stock worth $61,033,000 after purchasing an additional 52,454 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp by 16.3% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 313,534 shares of the bank’s stock worth $8,541,000 after purchasing an additional 43,987 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp by 7.5% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 580,628 shares of the bank’s stock worth $15,816,000 after purchasing an additional 40,374 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quest Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp during the fourth quarter worth about $980,000. Institutional investors own 66.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently issued reports on SASR. StockNews.com upgraded Sandy Spring Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on Sandy Spring Bancorp from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday. DA Davidson increased their target price on Sandy Spring Bancorp from $23.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Stephens reiterated an “equal weight” rating and set a $25.00 target price on shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $27.00.

Sandy Spring Bancorp Price Performance

NASDAQ SASR traded up $0.43 during trading on Friday, hitting $31.35. 473,049 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 345,297. The company has a market capitalization of $1.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.37 and a beta of 0.97. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $24.68 and a 200-day simple moving average of $23.33. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. Sandy Spring Bancorp, Inc. has a 12-month low of $19.27 and a 12-month high of $31.83.

Sandy Spring Bancorp (NASDAQ:SASR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The bank reported $0.51 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.43 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $184.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $99.60 million. Sandy Spring Bancorp had a return on equity of 6.44% and a net margin of 12.31%. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.60 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Sandy Spring Bancorp, Inc. will post 1.94 EPS for the current year.

Sandy Spring Bancorp Profile

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 the United States. It offers financial products and services, including various loan and deposit products.