Insider Selling: Sierra Bancorp (NASDAQ:BSRR) EVP Sells 11,660 Shares of Stock

Sierra Bancorp (NASDAQ:BSRR) EVP Michael Olague sold 11,660 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.45, for a total transaction of $331,727.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 25,132 shares in the company, valued at approximately $715,005.40. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Michael Olague also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Thursday, July 25th, Michael Olague sold 14,088 shares of Sierra Bancorp stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.95, for a total transaction of $436,023.60.
• On Thursday, May 9th, Michael Olague sold 4,753 shares of Sierra Bancorp stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $22.29, for a total transaction of $105,944.37.

Sierra Bancorp Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ BSRR traded down $1.09 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $28.62. 45,185 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 30,133. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 0.74. The company has a market cap of $417.85 million, a PE ratio of 11.83 and a beta of 0.91. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $22.83 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $20.80. Sierra Bancorp has a 1-year low of $16.75 and a 1-year high of $31.85.

Sierra Bancorp (NASDAQ:BSRR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 22nd. The financial services provider reported $0.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $51.13 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $36.30 million. Sierra Bancorp had a net margin of 17.77% and a return on equity of 10.82%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Sierra Bancorp will post 2.76 EPS for the current year.

Sierra Bancorp Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 31st will be given a dividend of $0.24 per share. This is a positive change from Sierra Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 31st. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.35%. Sierra Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 38.02%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BSRR has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on shares of Sierra Bancorp from $23.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Sierra Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott lowered shares of Sierra Bancorp from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 15th.

Institutional Trading of Sierra Bancorp

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Sierra Bancorp by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 996,631 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $22,474,000 after acquiring an additional 3,348 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted 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 valued at $13,737,000 after purchasing an additional 5,830 shares during the last quarter. Foundry Partners LLC lifted its stake in Sierra Bancorp by 11.1% in the 1st quarter. Foundry Partners LLC now owns 150,415 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,038,000 after purchasing an additional 15,080 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in Sierra Bancorp by 3.0% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 119,520 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,675,000 after purchasing an additional 3,531 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in Sierra Bancorp by 15.6% in 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. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 55.40% 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.