Apollon Wealth Management LLC Invests $370,000 in Sandy Spring Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:SASR)

Apollon Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Sandy Spring Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:SASR) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 10,988 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $370,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Tritonpoint Wealth LLC lifted its stake in shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Tritonpoint Wealth LLC now owns 20,119 shares of the bank’s stock worth $678,000 after buying an additional 302 shares during the last quarter. Evermay Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp by 1,296.9% in the fourth quarter. Evermay Wealth Management LLC now owns 12,572 shares of the bank’s stock worth $424,000 after buying an additional 11,672 shares during the last quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. increased its position in Sandy Spring Bancorp by 41.7% during the fourth quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 22,582 shares of the bank’s stock worth $761,000 after acquiring an additional 6,641 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its position in Sandy Spring Bancorp by 140.6% during the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 13,004 shares of the bank’s stock worth $438,000 after acquiring an additional 7,600 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in Sandy Spring Bancorp by 96.9% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 70,599 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,215,000 after acquiring an additional 34,735 shares during the period. 66.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp in a research report on Wednesday. They set a “sell” rating on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $28.25.

Sandy Spring Bancorp Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of SASR stock opened at $33.77 on Friday. Sandy Spring Bancorp, Inc. has a 1 year low of $19.52 and a 1 year high of $39.55. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $34.07 and its 200 day simple moving average is $33.17. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 75.05 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50.

Sandy Spring Bancorp (NASDAQ:SASR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 28th. The bank reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by ($0.01). Sandy Spring Bancorp had a net margin of 2.65% and a return on equity of 5.31%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Sandy Spring Bancorp, Inc. will post 2.51 EPS for the current year.

Sandy Spring Bancorp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, February 19th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 12th will be paid a $0.34 dividend. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.03%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 12th. Sandy Spring Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is 302.23%.

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.