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 published on Tuesday morning, Marketbeat reports. Janney Montgomery Scott currently has $23.00 price target on the financial services provider’s stock, down from their prior price target of $24.00.

Sierra Bancorp Stock Performance

Shares of BSRR opened at $20.42 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $299.15 million, a PE ratio of 8.50 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 firm has a 50-day moving average price of $18.77 and a 200 day moving average price of $19.53. Sierra Bancorp has a 52-week low of $15.01 and a 52-week high of $23.21.

Sierra Bancorp (NASDAQ:BSRR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 29th. The financial services provider reported $0.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.69 by ($0.26). Sierra Bancorp had a net margin of 17.80% and a return on equity of 11.11%. The company had revenue of $50.49 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $35.15 million. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Sierra Bancorp will post 2.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sierra Bancorp Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 13th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 30th will be paid a $0.23 dividend. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.51%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 29th. Sierra Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is presently 38.02%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of BSRR. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its position in shares of Sierra Bancorp by 16.0% in the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 7,338 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $165,000 after purchasing an additional 1,012 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake 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 worth $1,002,000 after purchasing an additional 1,095 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in Sierra Bancorp by 0.3% during the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Bfsg LLC purchased a new position in Sierra Bancorp during the 4th quarter worth approximately $122,000. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC raised 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. 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.