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

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Sierra Bancorp (NASDAQ:BSRR) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report released on Saturday morning.

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on Sierra Bancorp from $23.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd.

Sierra Bancorp Price Performance

Shares of BSRR stock opened at $31.06 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $29.42 and its 200 day simple moving average is $26.31. Sierra Bancorp has a one year low of $17.69 and a one year high of $35.13. The firm has a market cap of $446.95 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.33 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.

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

Sierra Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, November 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 31st were given a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 31st. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.09%. Sierra Bancorp’s payout ratio is 38.10%.

Insider Activity at Sierra Bancorp

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Sierra Bancorp

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Financial Management Professionals Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Sierra Bancorp during the 3rd quarter valued at $29,000. Lazard Asset Management LLC grew its stake 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 during the period. Acadian Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Sierra Bancorp in the first quarter valued at about $94,000. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new position in Sierra Bancorp in the third quarter valued at about $142,000. Finally, Panagora Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake 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 buying an additional 904 shares during the period. 55.40% of the stock is owned by 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.