Sierra Bancorp (NASDAQ:BSRR) Share Price Passes Above Two Hundred Day Moving Average of $20.34

Shares of Sierra Bancorp (NASDAQ:BSRR) passed above its two hundred day moving average during trading on Thursday . The stock has a two hundred day moving average of $20.34 and traded as high as $24.35. Sierra Bancorp shares last traded at $23.83, with a volume of 78,835 shares traded.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BSRR has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Janney Montgomery Scott lowered shares of Sierra Bancorp from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 15th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on shares of Sierra Bancorp from $24.00 to $23.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Sierra Bancorp from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, July 4th.

Sierra Bancorp Price Performance

The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $21.48 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $20.36. The stock has a market cap of $356.82 million, a PE ratio of 10.10 and a beta of 0.91.

Sierra Bancorp (NASDAQ:BSRR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 22nd. The financial services provider reported $0.64 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.56 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $37.31 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $34.90 million. Sierra Bancorp had a net margin of 17.80% and a return on equity of 10.89%. On average, equities analysts expect that Sierra Bancorp will post 2.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sierra Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 13th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 30th were given a dividend of $0.23 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, April 29th. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.76%. Sierra Bancorp’s payout ratio is 38.02%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Michael Olague sold 4,753 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $22.29, for a total transaction of $105,944.37. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 31,353 shares in the company, valued at approximately $698,858.37. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 11.86% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Sierra Bancorp

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of BSRR. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Sierra Bancorp by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 996,631 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $22,474,000 after buying an additional 3,348 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Sierra Bancorp by 0.9% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 680,053 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $13,737,000 after acquiring an additional 5,830 shares during the last quarter. Foundry Partners LLC lifted its position in Sierra Bancorp by 11.1% during the 1st quarter. Foundry Partners LLC now owns 150,415 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,038,000 after acquiring an additional 15,080 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in Sierra Bancorp by 15.6% during the 1st quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 77,645 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,568,000 after purchasing an additional 10,496 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC increased its holdings in shares of Sierra Bancorp by 8.0% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 66,202 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,337,000 after purchasing an additional 4,900 shares during the period. 55.40% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.