Sierra Bancorp (NASDAQ:BSRR) EVP Michael Olague Sells 3,563 Shares

Sierra Bancorp (NASDAQ:BSRR) EVP Michael Olague sold 3,563 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.15, for a total transaction 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 $386,540.35. The trade was a 22.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink.

Sierra Bancorp Price Performance

NASDAQ:BSRR opened at $31.46 on Wednesday. Sierra Bancorp has a 52 week low of $17.69 and a 52 week high of $35.13. The firm has a market cap of $452.71 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.20 and a beta of 0.92. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $29.90 and its 200 day simple moving average is $29.53. 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 (NASDAQ:BSRR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The financial services provider reported $0.72 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.72. Sierra Bancorp had a net margin of 19.90% and a return on equity of 11.55%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict 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 Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Monday, February 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.18%. This is a positive change from Sierra Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 3rd. Sierra Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 35.59%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Sierra Bancorp

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. State Street Corp increased its position in Sierra Bancorp by 3.6% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 321,257 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $9,278,000 after acquiring an additional 11,095 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its holdings in Sierra Bancorp by 12.5% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 194,573 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,619,000 after buying an additional 21,558 shares during the period. Foundry Partners LLC increased its holdings in Sierra Bancorp by 19.2% in the 3rd quarter. Foundry Partners LLC now owns 176,985 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,111,000 after buying an additional 28,495 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in Sierra Bancorp by 3.9% in the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 126,905 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,670,000 after buying an additional 4,794 shares during the period. Finally, Zacks Investment Management bought a new position in Sierra Bancorp in the 3rd quarter valued at about $2,818,000. 55.40% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of Sierra Bancorp from $30.00 to $35.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Sierra Bancorp from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th.

About Sierra Bancorp

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.