Sierra Bancorp (NASDAQ:BSRR) Upgraded to Buy at Janney Montgomery Scott

Janney Montgomery Scott upgraded shares of Sierra Bancorp (NASDAQ:BSRR) from a neutral rating to a buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. They currently have $23.00 target price on the financial services provider’s stock, down from their prior target price of $24.00.

Sierra Bancorp Stock Up 5.4 %

Sierra Bancorp stock opened at $19.96 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. Sierra Bancorp has a 1-year low of $15.01 and a 1-year high of $23.21. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $18.69 and its 200-day simple moving average is $19.51. The company has a market capitalization of $292.37 million, a P/E ratio of 8.46 and a beta of 0.93.

Sierra Bancorp (NASDAQ:BSRR) last posted its earnings results on Monday, January 29th. The financial services provider reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.69 by ($0.26). Sierra Bancorp had a net margin of 18.01% and a return on equity of 11.03%. The company had revenue of $50.49 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $35.15 million. Sell-side analysts forecast that Sierra Bancorp will post 2.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sierra Bancorp Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 13th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 30th will be given a dividend of $0.23 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 29th. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.61%. Sierra Bancorp’s payout ratio is currently 38.98%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Sierra Bancorp

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in Sierra Bancorp by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 996,631 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $22,474,000 after buying an additional 3,348 shares during the last quarter. Private Management Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Sierra Bancorp by 4.0% in the third quarter. Private Management Group Inc. now owns 653,714 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $12,394,000 after purchasing an additional 25,256 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in shares of Sierra Bancorp by 27.1% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 67,149 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,514,000 after purchasing an additional 14,320 shares during the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Sierra Bancorp by 20.0% during the 4th quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 43,620 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $984,000 after purchasing an additional 7,260 shares during the period. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its holdings in Sierra Bancorp by 118.2% in the 4th quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 15,218 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $343,000 after buying an additional 8,243 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 55.40% of the company’s stock.

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.