Insider Selling: Sierra Bancorp (NASDAQ:BSRR) Director Sells 725 Shares of Stock

Sierra Bancorp (NASDAQ:BSRR) Director Vonn R. Christenson sold 725 shares of Sierra Bancorp stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.48, for a total value of $20,648.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 189 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,382.72. This trade represents a 79.32 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link.

Sierra Bancorp Stock Performance

Shares of Sierra Bancorp stock opened at $28.47 on Tuesday. Sierra Bancorp has a one year low of $17.69 and a one year high of $35.13. The firm has a market capitalization of $397.56 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.13 and a beta of 0.89. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $29.78 and a 200 day simple moving average of $29.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.79.

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

Sierra Bancorp Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Monday, February 3rd were given a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.51%. This is a positive change from Sierra Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 3rd. Sierra Bancorp’s payout ratio is presently 35.59%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on BSRR shares. StockNews.com raised Sierra Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on Sierra Bancorp from $30.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th.

Institutional Trading of Sierra Bancorp

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BSRR. State of Tennessee Department of Treasury bought a new stake in Sierra Bancorp in the 4th quarter valued at about $137,000. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its stake in Sierra Bancorp by 20.3% during the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 5,903 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $171,000 after purchasing an additional 997 shares during the last quarter. Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Sierra Bancorp during the 4th quarter valued at about $202,000. Franklin Resources Inc. acquired a new position in Sierra Bancorp during the 3rd quarter valued at about $216,000. Finally, MetLife Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Sierra Bancorp by 11.3% during the 4th quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 8,249 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $239,000 after purchasing an additional 838 shares during the last quarter. 55.40% of the stock is owned by 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.