Julie Castle Sells 750 Shares of Sierra Bancorp (NASDAQ:BSRR) Stock

Sierra Bancorp (NASDAQ:BSRR) Director Julie Castle sold 750 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.93, for a total transaction of $28,447.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 2,431 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $92,207.83. This trade represents a 23.58% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Sierra Bancorp Trading Down 0.5%

Shares of Sierra Bancorp stock opened at $36.70 on Wednesday. Sierra Bancorp has a 52-week low of $22.42 and a 52-week high of $38.57. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $34.30 and its 200-day simple moving average is $31.10. The firm has a market cap of $488.04 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.76 and a beta of 0.79.

Sierra Bancorp (NASDAQ:BSRR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 2nd. The financial services provider reported $0.97 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.85 by $0.12. Sierra Bancorp had a net margin of 20.96% and a return on equity of 11.90%. The firm had revenue of $39.16 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $40.04 million. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Sierra Bancorp will post 2.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Sierra Bancorp Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 9th will be issued a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 9th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.8%. This is an increase from Sierra Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Sierra Bancorp’s payout ratio is 33.33%.

Institutional Trading of Sierra Bancorp

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of BSRR. CSM Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Sierra Bancorp in the second quarter valued at $5,057,000. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC grew its stake in Sierra Bancorp by 367.4% in 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 last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE increased its holdings in Sierra Bancorp by 371.5% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 64,365 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,911,000 after acquiring an additional 50,714 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its position 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its position in Sierra Bancorp by 16.1% during the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 238,620 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $7,085,000 after acquiring an additional 33,048 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 55.40% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on Sierra Bancorp from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Sierra Bancorp in a research note on Monday, December 29th. DA Davidson raised their price objective on shares of Sierra Bancorp from $39.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 3rd. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of Sierra Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Sierra Bancorp has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $38.50.

About Sierra Bancorp

Sierra Bancorp (NASDAQ: BSRR) is a bank holding company headquartered in Porterville, California. The company operates through its banking subsidiary, offering a full suite of financial services to individual and commercial clients. With a community-focused approach, Sierra Bancorp emphasizes relationship banking and local market expertise.

Its core business activities include deposit-taking and lending. On the deposit side, Sierra Bancorp provides checking, savings, money market and certificate of deposit accounts.