Sierra Bancorp (NASDAQ:BSRR) Short Interest Up 14.0% in June

Sierra Bancorp (NASDAQ:BSRR) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest during the month of June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 97,600 shares, a growth of 14.0% from the May 31st total of 85,600 shares. Approximately 0.8% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 25,700 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.8 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on BSRR shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on Sierra Bancorp from $24.00 to $23.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. StockNews.com raised Sierra Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 26th. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott lowered Sierra Bancorp from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 15th.

Sierra Bancorp Trading Down 1.5 %

BSRR stock traded down $0.33 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $22.05. 2,874 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 26,954. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. Sierra Bancorp has a 52-week low of $16.30 and a 52-week high of $23.21. The company has a market cap of $321.93 million, a P/E ratio of 9.25 and a beta of 0.91. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $21.04 and its 200-day moving average is $20.31.

Sierra Bancorp (NASDAQ:BSRR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 22nd. The financial services provider reported $0.64 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.56 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $37.31 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $34.90 million. Sierra Bancorp had a net margin of 17.80% and a return on equity of 10.89%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Sierra Bancorp will post 2.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Sierra Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 13th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 30th were given a dividend of $0.23 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, April 29th. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.17%. Sierra Bancorp’s payout ratio is currently 38.02%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Sierra Bancorp news, EVP Michael Olague sold 4,753 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $22.29, for a total value of $105,944.37. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 31,353 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $698,858.37. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 11.63% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Sierra Bancorp

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in Sierra Bancorp by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 996,631 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $22,474,000 after purchasing an additional 3,348 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Sierra Bancorp by 0.9% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 680,053 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $13,737,000 after purchasing an additional 5,830 shares during the period. Foundry Partners LLC boosted its position in Sierra Bancorp by 11.1% during the first quarter. Foundry Partners LLC now owns 150,415 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,038,000 after purchasing an additional 15,080 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in shares of Sierra Bancorp by 15.6% in the first quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 77,645 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,568,000 after acquiring an additional 10,496 shares during the period. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC boosted its position in shares of Sierra Bancorp by 8.0% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 66,202 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,337,000 after acquiring an additional 4,900 shares during the period. 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.