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

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Sierra Bancorp (NASDAQ:BSRR) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note released on Wednesday.

A number of other research firms have also weighed in on BSRR. Janney Montgomery Scott lowered shares of Sierra Bancorp from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 15th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on shares of Sierra Bancorp from $24.00 to $23.00 and set a market perform rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd.

Sierra Bancorp Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ BSRR opened at $20.88 on Wednesday. Sierra Bancorp has a 1 year low of $16.30 and a 1 year high of $23.21. The stock has a market cap of $304.85 million, a P/E ratio of 8.63 and a beta of 0.91. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $20.90 and a 200 day moving average of $20.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.74.

Sierra Bancorp (NASDAQ:BSRR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 22nd. The financial services provider reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.56 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $37.31 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $34.90 million. Sierra Bancorp had a net margin of 17.80% and a return on equity of 10.89%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Sierra Bancorp will post 2.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sierra Bancorp Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 13th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 30th were paid a $0.23 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, April 29th. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.41%. Sierra Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is presently 38.02%.

Insider Transactions at Sierra Bancorp

In other news, EVP Michael Olague sold 4,753 shares of Sierra Bancorp stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $22.29, for a total value of $105,944.37. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 31,353 shares in the company, valued at $698,858.37. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 11.86% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Sierra Bancorp

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BSRR. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its position in Sierra Bancorp by 16.0% during the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 7,338 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $165,000 after buying an additional 1,012 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in Sierra Bancorp by 27.1% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 67,149 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,514,000 after buying an additional 14,320 shares during the period. Bfsg LLC bought a new stake in Sierra Bancorp during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $122,000. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC grew its position in Sierra Bancorp by 20.0% during the fourth quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 43,620 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $984,000 after buying an additional 7,260 shares during the period. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its position in Sierra Bancorp by 118.2% during the fourth quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 15,218 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $343,000 after buying an additional 8,243 shares during the period. 55.40% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.