Sierra Bancorp (NASDAQ:BSRR) Lifted 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 report issued on Tuesday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. Janney Montgomery Scott currently has $23.00 price target on the financial services provider’s stock, down from their previous price target of $24.00.

Sierra Bancorp Trading Up 0.4 %

NASDAQ:BSRR opened at $20.50 on Tuesday. Sierra Bancorp has a 12 month low of $15.01 and a 12 month high of $23.21. The firm has a market cap of $300.33 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.44 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a quick ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. The company’s 50 day moving average is $18.79 and its 200-day moving average is $19.54.

Sierra Bancorp (NASDAQ:BSRR) last announced its earnings results on Monday, January 29th. The financial services provider reported $0.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.69 by ($0.26). Sierra Bancorp had a return on equity of 11.11% and a net margin of 17.80%. The company had revenue of $50.49 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $35.15 million. Equities analysts anticipate that Sierra Bancorp will post 2.45 EPS for the current year.

Sierra Bancorp Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 13th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 30th will be given a dividend of $0.23 per share. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 29th. Sierra Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 38.02%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Sierra Bancorp

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of BSRR. SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new stake in Sierra Bancorp in the 3rd quarter valued at $120,000. Private Management Group Inc. increased its holdings in Sierra Bancorp by 4.0% in the 3rd quarter. Private Management Group Inc. now owns 653,714 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $12,394,000 after buying an additional 25,256 shares during the period. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Sierra Bancorp in the 3rd quarter valued at $689,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings in Sierra Bancorp by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 52,829 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,002,000 after buying an additional 1,095 shares during the period. Finally, Bfsg LLC bought a new stake in Sierra Bancorp in the 4th quarter valued at $122,000. Institutional investors own 55.40% 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.