Sierra Bancorp (NASDAQ:BSRR) Declares $0.25 Quarterly Dividend

Sierra Bancorp (NASDAQ:BSRR - Get Free Report) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, April 24th, Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 5th will be paid a dividend of 0.25 per share by the financial services provider on Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 5th.

Sierra Bancorp has increased its dividend payment by an average of 3.0% per year over the last three years. Sierra Bancorp has a dividend payout ratio of 32.6% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Sierra Bancorp to earn $3.05 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 32.8%.

Sierra Bancorp Price Performance

Shares of Sierra Bancorp stock traded down $0.11 on Thursday, hitting $26.35. The company had a trading volume of 11,557 shares, compared to its average volume of 39,181. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $27.49 and a 200-day simple moving average of $29.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.79. The company has a market cap of $364.42 million, a PE ratio of 9.38 and a beta of 0.76. Sierra Bancorp has a 52 week low of $19.77 and a 52 week high of $35.13.

Sierra Bancorp (NASDAQ:BSRR - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Monday, April 28th. The financial services provider reported $0.65 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.66 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $36.75 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $37.51 million. Sierra Bancorp had a return on equity of 11.55% and a net margin of 19.90%. Research analysts expect that Sierra Bancorp will post 2.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on BSRR shares. DA Davidson reduced their price target on shares of Sierra Bancorp from $37.00 to $36.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. StockNews.com upgraded Sierra Bancorp from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target on Sierra Bancorp from $32.00 to $31.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday.

Insider Transactions at Sierra Bancorp

In other Sierra Bancorp news, Director Julie G. Castle sold 1,104 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.00, for a total transaction of $35,328.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 4,157 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $133,024. The trade was a 20.98 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Michael Olague sold 3,563 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.15, for a total value of $110,987.45. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 12,409 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $386,540.35. This trade represents a 22.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 5,393 shares of company stock valued at $166,994. Corporate insiders own 11.86% of the company's stock.

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.