Sierra Bancorp $BSRR Shares Sold by Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc.

Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Sierra Bancorp (NASDAQ:BSRR) by 3.9% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 15,328 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 630 shares during the period. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. owned about 0.11% of Sierra Bancorp worth $427,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Sierra Bancorp by 71.6% during the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 24,072 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $671,000 after acquiring an additional 10,046 shares in the last quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in Sierra Bancorp by 138.3% during the 1st quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 43,949 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,225,000 after acquiring an additional 25,508 shares in the last quarter. Martingale Asset Management L P grew its holdings in Sierra Bancorp by 10.9% during the 1st quarter. Martingale Asset Management L P now owns 46,531 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,297,000 after acquiring an additional 4,567 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in Sierra Bancorp by 5.9% during the 1st quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 134,449 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,748,000 after acquiring an additional 7,544 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in Sierra Bancorp during the 1st quarter worth $960,000. 55.40% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Zacks Research lowered shares of Sierra Bancorp from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $33.50.

Insider Activity at Sierra Bancorp

In related news, EVP Michael Olague sold 9,193 shares of Sierra Bancorp stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.41, for a total value of $261,173.13. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 8,809 shares in the company, valued at $250,263.69. This trade represents a 51.07% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Julie G. Castle sold 976 shares of Sierra Bancorp stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the director owned 3,181 shares in the company, valued at approximately $93,044.25. This represents a 23.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 18,169 shares of company stock valued at $529,844 in the last quarter. Insiders own 11.86% of the company’s stock.

Sierra Bancorp Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:BSRR opened at $30.00 on Friday. 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 has a fifty-two week low of $22.42 and a fifty-two week high of $35.13. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $30.19 and a 200 day simple moving average of $28.58. The company has a market cap of $407.70 million, a PE ratio of 10.38 and a beta of 0.81.

Sierra Bancorp (NASDAQ:BSRR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 28th. The financial services provider reported $0.78 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 anticipate that Sierra Bancorp will post 2.95 EPS for the current year.

Sierra Bancorp Dividend Announcement

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

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.