Sierra Bancorp (NASDAQ:BSRR) Upgraded at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Sierra Bancorp (NASDAQ:BSRR) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note released on Wednesday.

Several other analysts have also issued reports on the stock. Janney Montgomery Scott lowered shares of Sierra Bancorp from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 15th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target 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.

Sierra Bancorp Stock Performance

Shares of BSRR stock opened at $29.71 on Wednesday. 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 $31.85. The business’s 50 day moving average is $22.54 and its two-hundred day moving average is $20.70. The company has a market capitalization of $433.77 million, a P/E ratio of 12.28 and a beta of 0.91.

Sierra Bancorp (NASDAQ:BSRR) last announced its earnings results on Monday, July 22nd. The financial services provider reported $0.71 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.11. Sierra Bancorp had a return on equity of 10.82% and a net margin of 17.77%. The business had revenue of $51.13 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $36.30 million. Analysts expect that Sierra Bancorp will post 2.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sierra Bancorp Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 31st will be paid a $0.24 dividend. 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 3.23%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 31st. Sierra Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is currently 38.02%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Michael Olague sold 4,753 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $22.29, for a total value of $105,944.37. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 31,353 shares in the company, valued at $698,858.37. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 11.86% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in shares of Sierra Bancorp by 3.0% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 119,520 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,675,000 after purchasing an additional 3,531 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Sierra Bancorp by 45.7% in the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 3,051 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $61,000 after purchasing an additional 957 shares during the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Sierra Bancorp in the 1st quarter valued at about $94,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Sierra Bancorp by 0.9% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 680,053 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $13,737,000 after buying an additional 5,830 shares during the period. Finally, Foundry Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Sierra Bancorp by 11.1% during the 1st quarter. Foundry Partners LLC now owns 150,415 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,038,000 after buying an additional 15,080 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 55.40% of the company’s stock.

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.