StockNews.com Upgrades Sierra Bancorp (NASDAQ:BSRR) to “Buy”

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Sierra Bancorp (NASDAQ:BSRR) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report sent to investors on Monday.

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on Sierra Bancorp from $30.00 to $35.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th.

Sierra Bancorp Trading Up 1.6 %

Shares of BSRR stock opened at $28.25 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $394.48 million, a P/E ratio of 10.05 and a beta of 0.89. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $29.82 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $29.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.79. Sierra Bancorp has a fifty-two week low of $17.69 and a fifty-two week high of $35.13.

Sierra Bancorp (NASDAQ:BSRR) last issued its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The financial services provider reported $0.72 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.72. Sierra Bancorp had a return on equity of 11.55% and a net margin of 19.90%. Research analysts forecast that Sierra Bancorp will post 2.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Sierra Bancorp Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This is an increase from Sierra Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.54%. Sierra Bancorp’s payout ratio is currently 35.59%.

Insider Activity at Sierra Bancorp

In related news, Director Julie G. Castle sold 1,104 shares of Sierra Bancorp stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.00, for a total transaction of $35,328.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 4,157 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $133,024. The trade was a 20.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Michael Olague sold 3,563 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.15, for a total value of $110,987.45. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 12,409 shares in the company, valued at approximately $386,540.35. This represents a 22.31 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 4,668 shares of company stock valued at $146,346 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 11.63% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Franklin Resources Inc. purchased a new position in Sierra Bancorp in the third quarter worth $216,000. Barclays PLC raised its stake in shares of Sierra Bancorp by 301.7% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 16,896 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $488,000 after purchasing an additional 12,690 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in shares of Sierra Bancorp by 40.6% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 65,858 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,902,000 after purchasing an additional 19,025 shares during the period. Jane Street Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Sierra Bancorp by 9.7% during the 3rd quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 16,827 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $486,000 after purchasing an additional 1,484 shares during the period. Finally, FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of Sierra Bancorp by 12.5% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 194,573 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,619,000 after purchasing an additional 21,558 shares during the period. 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.