Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. Grows Stock Position in Sierra Bancorp (NASDAQ:BSRR)

Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. lifted its stake in Sierra Bancorp (NASDAQ:BSRR) by 85.3% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 26,241 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 12,077 shares during the quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd.’s holdings in Sierra Bancorp were worth $758,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Financial Management Professionals Inc. acquired a new position in Sierra Bancorp in the third quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Lazard Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Sierra Bancorp by 45.7% in the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 3,051 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $61,000 after purchasing an additional 957 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in Sierra Bancorp during the third quarter worth $142,000. Panagora Asset Management Inc. grew its position in 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 valued at $268,000 after buying an additional 904 shares during the period. Finally, Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC purchased a new position in Sierra Bancorp in the third quarter valued at $1,146,000. 55.40% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director James C. Holly sold 5,000 shares of Sierra Bancorp stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.98, for a total value of $144,900.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 313,370 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,081,462.60. The trade was a 1.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Albert L. Berra sold 2,540 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.24, for a total value of $81,889.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 150,063 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,838,031.12. This represents a 1.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 8,056 shares of company stock worth $244,741. Corporate insiders own 11.63% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Sierra Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 16th.

Sierra Bancorp Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of BSRR stock opened at $31.61 on Friday. Sierra Bancorp has a 1-year low of $17.69 and a 1-year high of $35.13. The company has a market cap of $454.87 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.54 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.79. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $29.70 and a 200-day simple moving average of $26.69.

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

Sierra Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.04%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 31st. Sierra Bancorp’s payout ratio is 38.10%.

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.