Sierra Bancorp (NASDAQ:BSRR) Plans Quarterly Dividend of $0.25

Sierra Bancorp (NASDAQ:BSRR) announced a quarterly dividend on Monday, January 27th,investing.com reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st will be paid a dividend of 0.25 per share by the financial services provider on Friday, February 14th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.37%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 31st. This is a positive change from Sierra Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24.

Sierra Bancorp has raised its dividend payment by an average of 3.0% per year over the last three years. Sierra Bancorp has a payout ratio of 34.2% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Sierra Bancorp to earn $2.81 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.00 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 35.6%.

Sierra Bancorp Trading Down 0.1 %

NASDAQ:BSRR opened at $29.71 on Tuesday. Sierra Bancorp has a 12 month low of $17.69 and a 12 month high of $35.13. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $30.03 and its 200 day moving average is $29.28. The stock has a market capitalization of $427.65 million, a PE ratio of 11.79 and a beta of 0.92.

Sierra Bancorp (NASDAQ:BSRR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 27th. The financial services provider reported $0.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.72. Sierra Bancorp had a return on equity of 10.48% and a net margin of 17.91%. Sell-side analysts expect that Sierra Bancorp will post 2.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on BSRR shares. StockNews.com lowered shares of Sierra Bancorp from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on shares of Sierra Bancorp from $30.00 to $35.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Albert L. Berra sold 2,540 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.24, for a total transaction of $81,889.60. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 150,063 shares in the company, valued at $4,838,031.12. This represents a 1.66 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director James C. Holly sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.98, for a total value of $144,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 313,370 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,081,462.60. This trade represents a 1.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 8,056 shares of company stock valued at $244,741. Insiders own 11.86% of the company’s stock.

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.