Sierra Bancorp (NASDAQ:BSRR) Plans Dividend Increase – $0.25 Per Share

Sierra Bancorp (NASDAQ:BSRR) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, January 23rd,investing.com reports. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 3rd will be given a dividend of 0.25 per share by the financial services provider on Friday, February 14th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.32%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 3rd. This is a positive change from Sierra Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24.

Sierra Bancorp has raised its dividend by an average of 3.0% annually over the last three years. Sierra Bancorp has a payout ratio of 34.2% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Sierra Bancorp to earn $3.04 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 32.9%.

Sierra Bancorp Stock Performance

NASDAQ:BSRR opened at $30.14 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $433.71 million, a P/E ratio of 10.73 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46. Sierra Bancorp has a 1 year low of $17.69 and a 1 year high of $35.13. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $29.94 and a 200-day moving average of $29.37.

Sierra Bancorp (NASDAQ:BSRR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 27th. The financial services provider reported $0.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.72. Sierra Bancorp had a return on equity of 11.55% and a net margin of 19.90%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Sierra Bancorp will post 2.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on BSRR shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on Sierra Bancorp from $30.00 to $35.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. StockNews.com lowered Sierra Bancorp from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th.

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.