Sierra Bancorp (NASDAQ:BSRR) Posts Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.11 EPS

Sierra Bancorp (NASDAQ:BSRR) posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday. The financial services provider reported $0.71 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.11, Yahoo Finance reports. Sierra Bancorp had a net margin of 17.80% and a return on equity of 10.89%. The business had revenue of $51.13 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $36.30 million.

Sierra Bancorp Price Performance

Sierra Bancorp stock opened at $29.64 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $432.74 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.25 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. Sierra Bancorp has a 12 month low of $16.75 and a 12 month high of $29.84. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $22.22 and its 200-day moving average is $20.56.

Sierra Bancorp Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 31st will be given a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 31st. This is an increase from Sierra Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.24%. Sierra Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 38.02%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BSRR has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. StockNews.com raised Sierra Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on Sierra Bancorp from $23.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott downgraded shares of Sierra Bancorp from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 15th.

Insider Transactions at Sierra Bancorp

In related news, EVP Michael Olague sold 4,753 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $22.29, for a total transaction of $105,944.37. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 31,353 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $698,858.37. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 11.86% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.