Sierra Bancorp (NASDAQ:BSRR) Announces Quarterly Earnings Results, Hits Expectations

Sierra Bancorp (NASDAQ:BSRR) issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday. The financial services provider reported $0.72 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.72, Zacks reports. Sierra Bancorp had a net margin of 17.91% and a return on equity of 10.48%.

Sierra Bancorp Stock Up 1.3 %

Sierra Bancorp stock opened at $30.10 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $30.01 and its 200 day moving average price is $29.32. Sierra Bancorp has a 1-year low of $17.69 and a 1-year high of $35.13. The company has a market cap of $433.14 million, a PE ratio of 11.94 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.79.

Sierra Bancorp Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.32%. This is an increase from Sierra Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 3rd. Sierra Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is 38.10%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Albert L. Berra sold 2,540 shares of the company’s 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 sale, the director now owns 150,063 shares in the company, valued at $4,838,031.12. This represents a 1.66 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director James C. Holly sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.98, for a total value of $144,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 313,370 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,081,462.60. The trade was a 1.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 8,056 shares of company stock worth $244,741. 11.86% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have commented on BSRR shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on Sierra Bancorp from $30.00 to $35.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. StockNews.com downgraded Sierra Bancorp from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th.

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.