Nuveen LLC Acquires New Holdings in Sierra Bancorp $BSRR

Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in Sierra Bancorp (NASDAQ:BSRR) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 34,437 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $960,000. Nuveen LLC owned about 0.25% of Sierra Bancorp at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Sierra Bancorp by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC now owns 131,761 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,811,000 after purchasing an additional 3,767 shares during the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Sierra Bancorp by 5.2% during the first quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 38,637 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,077,000 after acquiring an additional 1,907 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Sierra Bancorp by 301.4% during the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 37,858 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,095,000 after acquiring an additional 28,426 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC raised its stake in shares of Sierra Bancorp by 30.3% during the fourth quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 22,021 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $637,000 after acquiring an additional 5,125 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new position in shares of Sierra Bancorp during the first quarter valued at $612,000. Institutional investors own 55.40% of the company’s stock.

Sierra Bancorp Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ BSRR opened at $30.66 on Tuesday. Sierra Bancorp has a twelve month low of $22.42 and a twelve month high of $35.13. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $30.19 and a 200 day simple moving average of $28.57. The company has a market capitalization of $416.67 million, a PE ratio of 10.61 and a beta of 0.81. The company has a quick ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24.

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

Sierra Bancorp Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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 research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $33.50.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Julie G. Castle sold 976 shares of Sierra Bancorp stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.25, for a total transaction of $28,548.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 3,181 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $93,044.25. This trade represents a 23.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Michael Olague sold 9,193 shares of Sierra Bancorp stock in a transaction on Friday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.41, for a total transaction of $261,173.13. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 8,809 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $250,263.69. This represents a 51.07% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 18,169 shares of company stock valued at $529,844 over the last quarter. Insiders own 11.63% of the company’s stock.

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.