Sierra Bancorp (NASDAQ:BSRR) Raises Dividend to $0.24 Per Share

Sierra Bancorp (NASDAQ:BSRR) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, July 18th, investing.com reports. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 31st will be given a dividend of 0.24 per share by the financial services provider on Thursday, August 15th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.23%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 31st. This is an increase from Sierra Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23.

Sierra Bancorp has increased its dividend by an average of 4.8% per year over the last three years. Sierra Bancorp has a payout ratio of 38.7% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Sierra Bancorp to earn $2.79 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.96 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 34.4%.

Sierra Bancorp Trading Down 1.5 %

NASDAQ:BSRR opened at $29.71 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $433.77 million, a PE ratio of 12.28 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. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $22.69 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $20.74. Sierra Bancorp has a 12 month low of $16.75 and a 12 month high of $31.85.

Sierra Bancorp (NASDAQ:BSRR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 22nd. The financial services provider reported $0.71 EPS 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 company had revenue of $51.13 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $36.30 million. Research analysts forecast that Sierra Bancorp will post 2.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Sierra Bancorp news, EVP Michael Olague sold 4,753 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 31,353 shares in the company, valued at $698,858.37. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 11.86% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BSRR has been the topic of several recent research reports. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Sierra Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Janney Montgomery Scott cut shares of Sierra Bancorp from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 15th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of 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 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.