Sierra Bancorp (NASDAQ:BSRR) Short Interest Down 22.1% in October

Sierra Bancorp (NASDAQ:BSRR) saw a large decrease in short interest during the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 83,400 shares, a decrease of 22.1% from the October 15th total of 107,000 shares. Approximately 0.7% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 34,200 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.4 days.

Insider Activity

In other Sierra Bancorp news, Director Albert L. Berra sold 2,540 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 7th. The shares were 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 directly owns 150,063 shares in the company, valued at $4,838,031.12. This trade represents a 1.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director James C. Holly sold 5,000 shares of the business’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 transaction of $144,900.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 313,370 shares in the company, valued at $9,081,462.60. This represents a 1.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 11,154 shares of company stock worth $330,556. Insiders own 11.86% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Sierra Bancorp

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Sierra Bancorp by 0.9% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 680,053 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $13,737,000 after acquiring an additional 5,830 shares during the period. Acadian Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Sierra Bancorp in the 1st quarter worth about $94,000. Lazard Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Sierra Bancorp by 45.7% in the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 3,051 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $61,000 after purchasing an additional 957 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in shares of Sierra Bancorp by 3.0% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 119,520 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,675,000 after purchasing an additional 3,531 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Panagora Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Sierra Bancorp by 8.2% during the 2nd quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 11,957 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $268,000 after purchasing an additional 904 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 55.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on BSRR shares. StockNews.com raised shares of Sierra Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday. 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.

Sierra Bancorp Stock Performance

NASDAQ BSRR traded down $0.19 during trading on Friday, hitting $31.33. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 40,836 shares, compared to its average volume of 37,911. Sierra Bancorp has a 52 week low of $17.69 and a 52 week high of $35.13. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46. The firm has a market cap of $450.84 million, a P/E ratio of 12.43 and a beta of 0.89. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $29.33 and a 200 day moving average price of $26.13.

Sierra Bancorp (NASDAQ:BSRR) last released its earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The financial services provider reported $0.74 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.73 by $0.01. Sierra Bancorp had a net margin of 17.91% and a return on equity of 10.48%. The firm had revenue of $52.59 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $38.30 million. Equities research analysts forecast that Sierra Bancorp will post 2.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sierra Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, November 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 31st were paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 31st. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.06%. Sierra Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is currently 38.10%.

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.