American Century Companies Inc. Raises Stake in Sierra Bancorp $BSRR

American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in shares of Sierra Bancorp (NASDAQ:BSRR) by 5.9% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 134,449 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 7,544 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. owned 0.97% of Sierra Bancorp worth $3,748,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of BSRR. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of Sierra Bancorp during the 1st quarter worth $960,000. Millennium Management LLC increased its stake in Sierra Bancorp by 301.4% in the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 37,858 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,095,000 after purchasing an additional 28,426 shares during the last quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH acquired a new position in Sierra Bancorp in the first quarter valued at $612,000. Squarepoint Ops LLC purchased a new position in Sierra Bancorp during the fourth quarter worth about $475,000. Finally, Two Sigma Investments LP acquired a new stake in Sierra Bancorp in the 4th quarter worth about $458,000. 55.40% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Sierra Bancorp Trading Down 0.6%

Shares of BSRR opened at $30.66 on Friday. Sierra Bancorp has a twelve month low of $22.42 and a twelve month high of $35.13. The firm has a market capitalization of $416.67 million, a P/E ratio of 10.61 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a current ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $30.14 and its 200 day simple moving average is $28.59.

Sierra Bancorp (NASDAQ:BSRR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 28th. The financial services provider reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $39.21 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $38.47 million. Sierra Bancorp had a return on equity of 11.44% and a net margin of 20.09%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Sierra Bancorp will post 2.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Sierra Bancorp Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 4th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 4th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.3%. Sierra Bancorp’s payout ratio is presently 34.60%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Michael Olague sold 9,193 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.41, for a total value of $261,173.13. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 8,809 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $250,263.69. This represents a 51.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Lynda Scearcy sold 4,297 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.02, for a total transaction of $128,995.94. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 31,233 shares in the company, valued at approximately $937,614.66. This represents a 12.09% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 18,169 shares of company stock valued at $529,844. 11.86% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Zacks Research downgraded shares of Sierra Bancorp from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $33.50.

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.