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 published on Tuesday.

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased 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 Up 1.0 %

Shares of BSRR opened at $27.99 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. Sierra Bancorp has a 12-month low of $16.75 and a 12-month high of $31.85. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $28.85 and a 200 day moving average price of $24.75. The firm has a market capitalization of $408.54 million, a P/E ratio of 11.57 and a beta of 0.89.

Sierra Bancorp (NASDAQ:BSRR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 21st. The financial services provider reported $0.74 earnings per share (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 firm had revenue of $52.59 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $38.30 million. Sell-side analysts forecast that Sierra Bancorp will post 2.77 EPS for the current year.

Sierra Bancorp Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced 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 3.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 31st. Sierra Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 39.67%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Sierra Bancorp news, EVP Michael Olague sold 3,098 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 12,409 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $343,729.30. This trade 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 the SEC website. In other news, EVP Michael Olague sold 3,098 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.70, for a total transaction of $85,814.60. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 12,409 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $343,729.30. 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, CEO Kevin J. Mcphaill sold 6,285 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.87, for a total transaction of $187,732.95. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 20,699 shares in the company, valued at $618,279.13. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 46,366 shares of company stock valued at $1,370,158 over the last 90 days. 11.86% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Sierra Bancorp

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Lazard Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Sierra Bancorp by 45.7% during 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 in the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Sierra Bancorp in the first quarter valued at approximately $94,000. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in Sierra Bancorp in the third quarter valued at approximately $142,000. Panagora Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in Sierra Bancorp by 8.2% in the second quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 11,957 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $268,000 after acquiring an additional 904 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC raised its holdings in Sierra Bancorp by 8.0% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 66,202 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,337,000 after acquiring an additional 4,900 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 55.40% of the company’s stock.

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.