Sierra Bancorp (NASDAQ:BSRR) Short Interest Down 22.1% in October

Sierra Bancorp (NASDAQ:BSRR) saw a large drop in short interest during the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 83,400 shares, a drop of 22.1% from the October 15th total of 107,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 34,200 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.4 days. Currently, 0.7% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Insider Buying and Selling at Sierra Bancorp

In other news, EVP Michael Olague sold 3,098 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 12,409 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $343,729.30. The trade was a 19.98 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director James C. Holly sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.98, for a total transaction of $144,900.00. Following the completion of 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 11,154 shares of company stock worth $330,556 in the last quarter. 11.86% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Sierra Bancorp

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Lazard Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Sierra Bancorp by 45.7% in the first quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 3,051 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $61,000 after acquiring an additional 957 shares in the last quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in Sierra Bancorp by 8.2% during the 2nd quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 11,957 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $268,000 after purchasing an additional 904 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Sierra Bancorp by 0.9% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 680,053 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $13,737,000 after purchasing an additional 5,830 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in Sierra Bancorp by 24.0% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 74,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,137,000 after purchasing an additional 14,335 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position in shares of Sierra Bancorp by 3.0% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 119,520 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,675,000 after buying an additional 3,531 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 55.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BSRR has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Sierra Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of Sierra Bancorp from $23.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd.

Sierra Bancorp Price Performance

BSRR stock traded down $0.19 during trading on Friday, hitting $31.33. 40,836 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 32,049. Sierra Bancorp has a one year low of $17.69 and a one year high of $35.13. The stock has a market cap of $450.96 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.43 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $29.33 and a 200 day simple moving average of $26.09.

Sierra Bancorp (NASDAQ:BSRR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The financial services provider reported $0.74 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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%. Equities analysts expect that Sierra Bancorp will post 2.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sierra Bancorp Dividend Announcement

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

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.