Sierra Bancorp (NASDAQ:BSRR) Upgraded to Buy at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Sierra Bancorp (NASDAQ:BSRR) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report issued on Saturday.

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of Sierra Bancorp from $23.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd.

Sierra Bancorp Stock Performance

Shares of BSRR opened at $31.33 on Friday. Sierra Bancorp has a 1 year low of $17.69 and a 1 year high of $35.13. The stock has a market capitalization of $450.84 million, a PE ratio of 12.43 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.79. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $29.33 and a 200-day simple moving average of $26.13.

Sierra Bancorp (NASDAQ:BSRR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The financial services provider reported $0.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.73 by $0.01. Sierra Bancorp had a net margin of 17.91% and a return on equity of 10.48%. The company had revenue of $52.59 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $38.30 million. On average, analysts predict that Sierra Bancorp will post 2.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sierra Bancorp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, November 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 31st were issued a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.06%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 31st. Sierra Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 38.10%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Sierra Bancorp

In other news, EVP Michael Olague sold 3,098 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.70, for a total value of $85,814.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 12,409 shares in the company, valued at approximately $343,729.30. This represents a 19.98 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director James C. Holly sold 5,000 shares of Sierra Bancorp stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.98, for a total transaction of $144,900.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 313,370 shares in the company, valued at $9,081,462.60. This represents a 1.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 11,154 shares of company stock worth $330,556 over the last three months. Insiders own 11.86% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Sierra Bancorp

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Lazard Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Sierra Bancorp by 45.7% during the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 3,051 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $61,000 after buying an additional 957 shares during the last quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. grew 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 last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Sierra Bancorp by 0.9% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 680,053 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $13,737,000 after acquiring an additional 5,830 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings in shares of Sierra Bancorp by 24.0% in the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 74,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,137,000 after acquiring an additional 14,335 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in Sierra Bancorp by 3.0% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 119,520 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,675,000 after purchasing an additional 3,531 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.