Sierra Bancorp (NASDAQ:BSRR) Share Price Passes Above 200 Day Moving Average – Here’s What Happened

Shares of Sierra Bancorp (NASDAQ:BSRR) crossed above its 200-day moving average during trading on Wednesday . The stock has a 200-day moving average of $28.90 and traded as high as $29.92. Sierra Bancorp shares last traded at $29.92, with a volume of 44,063 shares trading hands.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BSRR has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Zacks Research downgraded Sierra Bancorp from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 14th. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $36.00 price objective on shares of Sierra Bancorp in a research report on Tuesday, October 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on Sierra Bancorp from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Sierra Bancorp in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Sierra Bancorp has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $34.50.

Sierra Bancorp Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.78. The firm has a market cap of $397.88 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.43 and a beta of 0.84. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $29.11 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $28.90.

Sierra Bancorp (NASDAQ:BSRR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 27th. The financial services provider reported $0.72 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.79 by ($0.07). The business had revenue of $40.03 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $39.57 million. Sierra Bancorp had a return on equity of 11.21% and a net margin of 19.70%. On average, analysts expect that Sierra Bancorp will post 2.95 EPS for the current year.

Sierra Bancorp Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 3rd will be paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.3%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 3rd. Sierra Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 34.84%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Michael Olague sold 9,193 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.41, for a total value of $261,173.13. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 8,809 shares in the company, valued at $250,263.69. This trade represents a 51.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 11.63% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of Sierra Bancorp in the first quarter worth about $960,000. Panagora Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Sierra Bancorp by 138.3% during the first quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 43,949 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,225,000 after acquiring an additional 25,508 shares in the last quarter. Strs Ohio purchased a new position in Sierra Bancorp during the first quarter valued at approximately $282,000. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH purchased a new position in Sierra Bancorp during the first quarter valued at approximately $612,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. purchased a new position in Sierra Bancorp during the first quarter valued at approximately $242,000. 55.40% of the stock is currently 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.