Sierra Bancorp (NASDAQ:BSRR) Cut to “Hold” at Zacks Research

Zacks Research lowered shares of Sierra Bancorp (NASDAQ:BSRR) from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a report published on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other equities research analysts have also commented on BSRR. Piper Sandler cut their price target on shares of Sierra Bancorp from $36.00 to $34.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 2nd. DA Davidson lifted their price target on shares of Sierra Bancorp from $39.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 3rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Sierra Bancorp in a research note on Friday, March 27th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $37.00.

Sierra Bancorp Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:BSRR opened at $35.51 on Monday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $35.17 and its 200 day moving average price is $32.52. Sierra Bancorp has a 12 month low of $23.53 and a 12 month high of $38.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The firm has a market capitalization of $468.38 million, a P/E ratio of 11.38 and a beta of 0.77.

Sierra Bancorp (NASDAQ:BSRR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 2nd. The financial services provider reported $0.97 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.85 by $0.12. Sierra Bancorp had a net margin of 20.96% and a return on equity of 11.82%. The firm had revenue of $40.35 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $40.04 million. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Sierra Bancorp will post 2.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sierra Bancorp Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 9th were paid a $0.26 dividend. This is a boost from Sierra Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 9th. Sierra Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 33.33%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Sierra Bancorp

In other Sierra Bancorp news, Director James C. Holly sold 5,000 shares of Sierra Bancorp stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.93, for a total value of $189,650.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 302,970 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,491,652.10. The trade was a 1.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Lynda Scearcy sold 5,000 shares of Sierra Bancorp stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.00, for a total transaction of $175,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 30,133 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,054,655. This represents a 14.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 11,000 shares of company stock worth $402,478. 11.86% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of BSRR. Janus Henderson Group PLC acquired a new position in Sierra Bancorp in the fourth quarter valued at $8,465,000. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its holdings in shares of Sierra Bancorp by 371.5% in the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 64,365 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,911,000 after acquiring an additional 50,714 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Sierra Bancorp by 16.1% in the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 238,620 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $7,085,000 after acquiring an additional 33,048 shares in the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Sierra Bancorp in the first quarter valued at about $784,000. Finally, Fourthstone LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Sierra Bancorp in the second quarter valued at about $758,000. 55.40% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Sierra Bancorp Company Profile

Sierra Bancorp (NASDAQ: BSRR) is a bank holding company headquartered in Porterville, California. The company operates through its banking subsidiary, offering a full suite of financial services to individual and commercial clients. With a community-focused approach, Sierra Bancorp emphasizes relationship banking and local market expertise.

Its core business activities include deposit-taking and lending. On the deposit side, Sierra Bancorp provides checking, savings, money market and certificate of deposit accounts.