Sandy Spring Bancorp, Inc. Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.34 (NASDAQ:SASR)

Sandy Spring Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:SASR) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, April 25th, Zacks reports. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 8th will be given a dividend of 0.34 per share by the bank on Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.12%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 7th.

Sandy Spring Bancorp has raised its dividend by an average of 4.3% per year over the last three years. Sandy Spring Bancorp has a dividend payout ratio of 50.9% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Sandy Spring Bancorp to earn $2.69 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.36 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 50.6%.

Sandy Spring Bancorp Stock Up 2.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ SASR opened at $22.24 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.00 billion, a PE ratio of 10.90 and a beta of 0.94. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $21.48 and its 200-day moving average is $22.98. Sandy Spring Bancorp has a 1 year low of $19.27 and a 1 year high of $27.90.

Sandy Spring Bancorp (NASDAQ:SASR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The bank reported $0.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.46 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $184.38 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $97.45 million. Sandy Spring Bancorp had a net margin of 12.74% and a return on equity of 6.69%. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.16 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Sandy Spring Bancorp will post 1.97 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on SASR shares. Stephens reiterated an “equal weight” rating and set a $25.00 price objective on shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Janney Montgomery Scott started coverage on shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp in a report on Friday, March 1st. They set a “neutral” rating and a $25.00 target price on the stock. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Sandy Spring Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have given a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $23.50.

Sandy Spring Bancorp Company 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.