Sierra Bancorp (NASDAQ:BSRR) Director Sells $292,600.00 in Stock

Sierra Bancorp (NASDAQ:BSRR) Director Morris A. Tharp sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.26, for a total value of $292,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 475,060 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,900,255.60. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink.

Sierra Bancorp Stock Down 3.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ BSRR opened at $27.35 on Friday. Sierra Bancorp has a one year low of $16.75 and a one year high of $31.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.74. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $23.40 and its 200-day moving average price is $21.01. The stock has a market capitalization of $399.31 million, a PE ratio of 11.30 and a beta of 0.91.

Sierra Bancorp (NASDAQ:BSRR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 22nd. The financial services provider reported $0.71 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.11. Sierra Bancorp had a return on equity of 10.82% and a net margin of 17.77%. The firm had revenue of $51.13 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $36.30 million. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Sierra Bancorp will post 2.76 EPS for the current year.

Sierra Bancorp Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 31st will be given a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.51%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 31st. This is a boost from Sierra Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. Sierra Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is currently 38.02%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have weighed in on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on Sierra Bancorp from $23.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Janney Montgomery Scott cut Sierra Bancorp from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 15th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Sierra Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Sierra Bancorp by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 996,631 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $22,474,000 after purchasing an additional 3,348 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Sierra Bancorp by 0.9% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 680,053 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $13,737,000 after purchasing an additional 5,830 shares in the last quarter. Foundry Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Sierra Bancorp by 11.1% during the 1st quarter. Foundry Partners LLC now owns 150,415 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,038,000 after purchasing an additional 15,080 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in Sierra Bancorp by 3.0% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 119,520 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,675,000 after purchasing an additional 3,531 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in Sierra Bancorp by 15.6% during the 1st quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 77,645 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,568,000 after purchasing an additional 10,496 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 55.40% of the company’s stock.

Sierra Bancorp Company Profile

Sierra Bancorp operates as the bank holding company for Bank of the Sierra that provides retail and commercial banking services to individuals and businesses in California. It accepts various deposit products, such as checking accounts, savings accounts, money market demand accounts, time deposits, retirement accounts, and sweep accounts.