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

Sandy Spring Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:SASR) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, October 31st, Zacks reports. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 14th will be paid a dividend of 0.34 per share by the bank on Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.04%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 14th.

Sandy Spring Bancorp has increased its dividend by an average of 4.3% per year over the last three years. Sandy Spring Bancorp has a dividend payout ratio of 53.3% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Sandy Spring Bancorp to earn $2.54 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 53.5%.

Sandy Spring Bancorp Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:SASR opened at $33.64 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $31.79 and a 200-day simple moving average of $27.17. Sandy Spring Bancorp has a one year low of $19.52 and a one year high of $34.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.03. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.71 and a beta of 0.95.

Sandy Spring Bancorp (NASDAQ:SASR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The bank reported $0.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.46 by ($0.06). The firm had revenue of $189.81 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $101.60 million. Sandy Spring Bancorp had a return on equity of 5.74% and a net margin of 11.54%. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.62 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Sandy Spring Bancorp will post 1.85 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SASR has been the topic of several research analyst reports. DA Davidson boosted their price target on Sandy Spring Bancorp from $23.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. StockNews.com initiated coverage on Sandy Spring Bancorp in a research note on Thursday. They set a “sell” rating on the stock. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on Sandy Spring Bancorp from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have given a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Sandy Spring Bancorp has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $28.25.

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