Sierra Bancorp (NASDAQ:BSRR) to Issue Dividend Increase – $0.25 Per Share

Sierra Bancorp (NASDAQ:BSRR) announced a quarterly dividend on Monday, January 27th,investing.com reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st will be paid a dividend of 0.25 per share by the financial services provider on Friday, February 14th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.37%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 31st. This is an increase from Sierra Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24.

Sierra Bancorp has increased its dividend by an average of 3.0% annually over the last three years. Sierra Bancorp has a payout ratio of 34.2% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Sierra Bancorp to earn $2.81 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.00 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 35.6%.

Sierra Bancorp Stock Down 0.1 %

Sierra Bancorp stock opened at $29.71 on Tuesday. Sierra Bancorp has a 12 month low of $17.69 and a 12 month high of $35.13. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $30.03 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $29.28. The firm has a market cap of $427.65 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.79 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46.

Sierra Bancorp (NASDAQ:BSRR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 27th. The financial services provider reported $0.72 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.72. Sierra Bancorp had a net margin of 17.91% and a return on equity of 10.48%. Equities analysts predict that Sierra Bancorp will post 2.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Sierra Bancorp

In other Sierra Bancorp news, Director James C. Holly sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.98, for a total transaction of $144,900.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 313,370 shares in the company, valued at $9,081,462.60. This represents a 1.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Albert L. Berra sold 2,540 shares of Sierra Bancorp stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.24, for a total value of $81,889.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 150,063 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,838,031.12. This trade represents a 1.66 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 8,056 shares of company stock worth $244,741. Insiders own 11.86% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on Sierra Bancorp from $30.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. StockNews.com cut shares of Sierra Bancorp from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday.

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.