Insider Selling: Sierra Bancorp (NASDAQ:BSRR) Director Sells 5,000 Shares of Stock

Sierra Bancorp (NASDAQ:BSRR) Director James Holly sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.93, for a total value of $189,650.00. Following the sale, the director owned 302,970 shares in the company, valued at $11,491,652.10. The trade was a 1.62% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.

Sierra Bancorp Trading Down 1.8%

Shares of NASDAQ BSRR traded down $0.70 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $37.19. 18,121 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 75,559. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.80. The firm has a market cap of $494.56 million, a P/E ratio of 11.92 and a beta of 0.79. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $34.08 and a 200 day moving average price of $31.01. Sierra Bancorp has a 12-month low of $22.42 and a 12-month high of $38.57.

Sierra Bancorp (NASDAQ:BSRR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 2nd. The financial services provider reported $0.97 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.85 by $0.12. Sierra Bancorp had a net margin of 20.96% and a return on equity of 11.90%. The company had revenue of $39.16 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $40.04 million. As a group, analysts expect that Sierra Bancorp will post 2.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Sierra Bancorp Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 9th will be given a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 9th. This is an increase from Sierra Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.8%. Sierra Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 32.05%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Sierra Bancorp

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BSRR. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Sierra Bancorp by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 17,871 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $517,000 after purchasing an additional 480 shares during the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers increased its stake in Sierra Bancorp by 2.7% in the 2nd quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 19,859 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $590,000 after buying an additional 527 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its position in Sierra Bancorp by 1.2% during the 2nd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 47,970 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,424,000 after buying an additional 577 shares in the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Sierra Bancorp by 5.5% in the 2nd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 12,826 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $381,000 after acquiring an additional 665 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tower Research Capital LLC TRC grew its stake in Sierra Bancorp by 57.7% in the second quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 2,266 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $67,000 after purchasing an additional 829 shares in the last quarter. 55.40% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BSRR has been the subject of several research reports. DA Davidson boosted their price objective on shares of Sierra Bancorp from $39.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Zacks Research raised Sierra Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Sierra Bancorp in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on Sierra Bancorp from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $38.50.

About Sierra Bancorp

Sierra Bancorp (NASDAQ: BSRR) is a bank holding company headquartered in Porterville, California. The company operates through its banking subsidiary, offering a full suite of financial services to individual and commercial clients. With a community-focused approach, Sierra Bancorp emphasizes relationship banking and local market expertise.

Its core business activities include deposit-taking and lending. On the deposit side, Sierra Bancorp provides checking, savings, money market and certificate of deposit accounts.