Insider Selling: Sierra Bancorp (NASDAQ:BSRR) CAO Sells 3,443 Shares of Stock

Sierra Bancorp (NASDAQ:BSRR) CAO Cindy Dabney sold 3,443 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.00, for a total transaction of $110,176.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 6,465 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $206,880. The trade was a 34.75% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Sierra Bancorp Trading Down 2.6%

Shares of BSRR stock traded down $0.85 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $31.83. The stock had a trading volume of 9,951 shares, compared to its average volume of 36,579. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $29.03 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $29.31. Sierra Bancorp has a 52-week low of $22.42 and a 52-week high of $32.81. The firm has a market capitalization of $423.34 million, a PE ratio of 11.18 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24.

Sierra Bancorp (NASDAQ:BSRR) last posted its earnings results on Monday, October 27th. The financial services provider reported $0.72 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79 by ($0.07). The firm had revenue of $40.03 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $39.57 million. Sierra Bancorp had a return on equity of 11.17% and a net margin of 19.70%. Equities analysts expect that Sierra Bancorp will post 2.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sierra Bancorp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 3rd. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.1%. Sierra Bancorp’s payout ratio is 34.84%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Sierra Bancorp

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. CSM Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Sierra Bancorp during the 2nd quarter valued at $5,057,000. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC lifted its position in Sierra Bancorp by 367.4% during the 2nd quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC now owns 66,131 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,963,000 after acquiring an additional 51,981 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its stake in Sierra Bancorp by 371.5% during the second 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 in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in Sierra Bancorp by 35.3% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 181,923 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,401,000 after acquiring an additional 47,474 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in Sierra Bancorp in the first quarter worth about $960,000. Institutional investors own 55.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on BSRR. Zacks Research downgraded Sierra Bancorp from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 14th. DA Davidson reissued a “buy” rating and set a $36.00 price objective on shares of Sierra Bancorp in a research report on Tuesday, October 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of Sierra Bancorp from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Sierra Bancorp in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $34.50.

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.