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 Saturday morning.

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised 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 note on Tuesday, July 23rd.

Sierra Bancorp Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ BSRR opened at $31.33 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $29.33 and a 200 day moving average price of $26.13. Sierra Bancorp has a 1-year low of $17.69 and a 1-year high of $35.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.79. The company has a market cap of $450.84 million, a PE ratio of 12.43 and a beta of 0.89.

Sierra Bancorp (NASDAQ:BSRR) last released its earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The financial services provider reported $0.74 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.73 by $0.01. Sierra Bancorp had a net margin of 17.91% and a return on equity of 10.48%. The company had revenue of $52.59 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $38.30 million. Sell-side analysts forecast that Sierra Bancorp will post 2.79 EPS for the current year.

Sierra Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, November 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 31st were given a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 31st. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.06%. Sierra Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is presently 38.10%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Sierra Bancorp

In other Sierra Bancorp news, Director Albert L. Berra sold 2,540 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.24, for a total transaction of $81,889.60. Following the sale, the director now owns 150,063 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,838,031.12. This represents a 1.66 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director James C. Holly sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 313,370 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,081,462.60. The trade was a 1.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 11,154 shares of company stock worth $330,556. 11.86% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Panagora Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Sierra Bancorp by 8.2% during the second quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 11,957 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $268,000 after buying an additional 904 shares in the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Sierra Bancorp by 45.7% during the first quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 3,051 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $61,000 after buying an additional 957 shares during the period. Financial Management Professionals Inc. acquired a new stake in Sierra Bancorp during the third quarter worth approximately $29,000. Jane Street Group LLC grew its stake in Sierra Bancorp by 9.7% in the 3rd quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 16,827 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $486,000 after acquiring an additional 1,484 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in Sierra Bancorp by 3.0% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 119,520 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,675,000 after acquiring an additional 3,531 shares during the period. 55.40% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.