Insider Selling: Sierra Bancorp (NASDAQ:BSRR) Director Sells 1,053 Shares of Stock

Sierra Bancorp (NASDAQ:BSRR) Director Vonn Christenson sold 1,053 shares of Sierra Bancorp stock in a transaction on Monday, May 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.01, for a total transaction of $40,024.53. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 189 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,183.89. This represents a 84.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website.

Sierra Bancorp Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:BSRR traded up $0.36 on Wednesday, reaching $38.26. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 54,691 shares, compared to its average volume of 61,122. Sierra Bancorp has a 52-week low of $26.49 and a 52-week high of $38.87. The company has a market cap of $500.43 million, a P/E ratio of 11.15 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $35.26 and a 200 day simple moving average of $34.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.80.

Sierra Bancorp (NASDAQ:BSRR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 27th. The financial services provider reported $0.96 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.82 by $0.14. Sierra Bancorp had a net margin of 22.53% and a return on equity of 12.67%. The business had revenue of $38.66 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $39.68 million. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Sierra Bancorp will post 3.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sierra Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 11th. Investors of record on Monday, May 4th were given a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 4th. Sierra Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is 30.32%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Sierra Bancorp

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Sierra Bancorp by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 17,871 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $517,000 after purchasing an additional 480 shares in the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers increased its position in Sierra Bancorp by 2.7% during the 2nd quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 19,859 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $590,000 after buying an additional 527 shares in the last quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. increased its position in Sierra Bancorp by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 48,191 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,575,000 after buying an additional 548 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP increased its position in Sierra Bancorp by 1.2% during the 2nd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 47,970 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,424,000 after buying an additional 577 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in Sierra Bancorp by 6.9% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 10,240 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $335,000 after buying an additional 662 shares in the last quarter. 55.40% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BSRR has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on shares of Sierra Bancorp from $36.00 to $34.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 2nd. DA Davidson reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $44.00 price objective on shares of Sierra Bancorp in a research report on Tuesday, April 28th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Sierra Bancorp in a research report on Friday, March 27th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered shares of Sierra Bancorp from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, April 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Sierra Bancorp currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $37.00.

Sierra Bancorp Company Profile

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.