Sierra Bancorp (NASDAQ:BSRR) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

Sierra Bancorp (NASDAQ:BSRR) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest in October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totalling 107,000 shares, a growth of 10.4% from the September 30th total of 96,900 shares. Approximately 0.9% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 37,800 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.8 days.

Sierra Bancorp Price Performance

Shares of Sierra Bancorp stock traded down $0.54 during trading on Thursday, reaching $28.40. 18,206 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 31,331. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.76. Sierra Bancorp has a 52-week low of $16.75 and a 52-week high of $31.85. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $28.95 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $25.14. The company has a market capitalization of $403.14 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.35 and a beta of 0.89.

Sierra Bancorp (NASDAQ:BSRR) last posted its earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The financial services provider reported $0.74 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.73 by $0.01. Sierra Bancorp had a net margin of 17.77% and a return on equity of 10.66%. The firm had revenue of $52.59 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $38.30 million. Sell-side analysts expect that Sierra Bancorp will post 2.77 EPS for the current year.

Sierra Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, November 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 31st will be issued a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.38%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 31st. Sierra Bancorp’s payout ratio is 38.10%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently commented on BSRR shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on Sierra Bancorp from $23.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. StockNews.com cut Sierra Bancorp from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday.

Insider Transactions at Sierra Bancorp

In other Sierra Bancorp news, EVP Michael Olague sold 3,098 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.70, for a total value of $85,814.60. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 12,409 shares in the company, valued at $343,729.30. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 11.86% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Sierra Bancorp

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Financial Management Professionals Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Sierra Bancorp in the 3rd quarter worth about $29,000. Lazard Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Sierra Bancorp by 45.7% in the first quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 3,051 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $61,000 after purchasing an additional 957 shares during the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Sierra Bancorp during the 1st quarter valued at about $94,000. SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new position in Sierra Bancorp in the 3rd quarter worth about $142,000. Finally, Panagora Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Sierra Bancorp by 8.2% during the second quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 11,957 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $268,000 after acquiring an additional 904 shares during the period. 55.40% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Sierra Bancorp

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.