Sierra Bancorp (NASDAQ:BSRR) Receives Average Rating of “Hold” from Brokerages

Shares of Sierra Bancorp (NASDAQ:BSRR) have received a consensus rating of “Hold” from the five research firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $37.00.

A number of research firms have issued reports on BSRR. DA Davidson reissued a “buy” rating and set a $44.00 target price on shares of Sierra Bancorp in a research note on Tuesday, April 28th. Zacks Research lowered shares of Sierra Bancorp from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, April 6th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Sierra Bancorp in a research note on Friday, March 27th. Finally, Piper Sandler reduced their target price on shares of Sierra Bancorp from $36.00 to $34.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 2nd.

Sierra Bancorp Stock Performance

Sierra Bancorp stock opened at $36.56 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $34.94 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $33.38. The firm has a market capitalization of $478.68 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.66 and a beta of 0.76. Sierra Bancorp has a 52-week low of $26.16 and a 52-week high of $38.60.

Sierra Bancorp (NASDAQ:BSRR) last posted its earnings results on Monday, April 27th. The financial services provider reported $0.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.82 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $38.66 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $39.68 million. Sierra Bancorp had a net margin of 22.53% and a return on equity of 12.70%. Sell-side analysts expect that Sierra Bancorp will post 3.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Sierra Bancorp Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 4th. Sierra Bancorp’s payout ratio is presently 30.32%.

Insider Transactions at Sierra Bancorp

In other news, Director James C. Holly sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.93, for a total value of $189,650.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 302,970 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,491,652.10. This represents a 1.62% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Julie G. Castle sold 750 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.93, for a total transaction of $28,447.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 2,431 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $92,207.83. This represents a 23.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 6,000 shares of company stock valued at $227,478 over the last three months. 11.83% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Sierra Bancorp

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in BSRR. Janus Henderson Group PLC acquired a new stake in shares of Sierra Bancorp in the 4th quarter worth approximately $8,465,000. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its stake in shares of Sierra Bancorp by 371.5% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 64,365 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,911,000 after acquiring an additional 50,714 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Sierra Bancorp by 16.1% in the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 238,620 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $7,085,000 after acquiring an additional 33,048 shares during the period. Jane Street Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Sierra Bancorp in the 1st quarter worth approximately $784,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Sierra Bancorp by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 733,567 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $21,207,000 after acquiring an additional 22,931 shares during the period. 55.40% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Sierra Bancorp Company Profile

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.