Sierra Bancorp (NASDAQ:BSRR) Lifted to “Buy” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Sierra Bancorp (NASDAQ:BSRR) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday morning.

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted 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 Trading Down 1.2 %

Shares of BSRR opened at $28.59 on Tuesday. Sierra Bancorp has a 1-year low of $16.75 and a 1-year high of $31.85. The company has a 50-day moving average of $28.89 and a 200 day moving average of $24.81. The firm has a market capitalization of $417.30 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.81 and a beta of 0.89. 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 (NASDAQ:BSRR) last posted its earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The financial services provider reported $0.74 EPS 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 business had revenue of $52.59 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $38.30 million. On average, research analysts expect that Sierra Bancorp will post 2.77 EPS for the current year.

Sierra Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, November 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.36%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 31st. Sierra Bancorp’s payout ratio is 39.67%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Sierra Bancorp

In other Sierra Bancorp news, EVP Michael Olague sold 3,098 shares of Sierra Bancorp stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.70, for a total transaction of $85,814.60. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 12,409 shares in the company, valued at approximately $343,729.30. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, Director Morris A. Tharp sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.26, for a total transaction of $292,600.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 475,060 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,900,255.60. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Michael Olague sold 3,098 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.70, for a total transaction of $85,814.60. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 12,409 shares in the company, valued at $343,729.30. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 24,758 shares of company stock worth $710,142. Company insiders own 11.86% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Sierra Bancorp

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in BSRR. Foundry Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Sierra Bancorp by 11.1% during the first quarter. Foundry Partners LLC now owns 150,415 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,038,000 after buying an additional 15,080 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in shares of Sierra Bancorp by 24.0% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 74,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,137,000 after buying an additional 14,335 shares during the period. Private Management Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Sierra Bancorp by 1.2% during the second quarter. Private Management Group Inc. now owns 657,147 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $14,707,000 after buying an additional 7,515 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Sierra Bancorp by 0.9% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 680,053 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $13,737,000 after buying an additional 5,830 shares during the period. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Sierra Bancorp during the third quarter worth approximately $142,000. 55.40% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.