Sierra Bancorp (NASDAQ:BSRR) Short Interest Down 21.0% in December

Sierra Bancorp (NASDAQ:BSRR) was the recipient of a significant decline in short interest in December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 60,300 shares, a decline of 21.0% from the December 15th total of 76,300 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 41,700 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.4 days. Currently, 0.5% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director James C. Holly sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.98, for a total value of $144,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 313,370 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,081,462.60. The trade was a 1.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Albert L. Berra sold 2,540 shares of Sierra Bancorp stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.24, for a total value of $81,889.60. Following the sale, the director now owns 150,063 shares in the company, valued at $4,838,031.12. This trade represents a 1.66 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 8,056 shares of company stock worth $244,741. Corporate insiders own 11.63% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Sierra Bancorp

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BSRR. SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new position in Sierra Bancorp during the third quarter worth approximately $142,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in Sierra Bancorp by 24.0% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 74,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,137,000 after acquiring an additional 14,335 shares during the last quarter. Financial Management Professionals Inc. purchased a new stake in Sierra Bancorp during the third quarter valued at about $29,000. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Sierra Bancorp by 21.2% during the third quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 46,013 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,329,000 after acquiring an additional 8,033 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC raised its holdings in shares of Sierra Bancorp by 5.3% in the 3rd quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 74,994 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,166,000 after purchasing an additional 3,752 shares during the period. 55.40% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BSRR has been the topic of several recent research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of Sierra Bancorp from $30.00 to $35.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Sierra Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 16th.

Sierra Bancorp Price Performance

Shares of BSRR traded down $0.21 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $29.37. 94,102 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 41,892. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $30.30 and a 200 day simple moving average of $28.92. Sierra Bancorp has a fifty-two week low of $17.69 and a fifty-two week high of $35.13. The stock has a market capitalization of $422.63 million, a PE ratio of 11.65 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46.

Sierra Bancorp (NASDAQ:BSRR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The financial services provider reported $0.74 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.73 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $52.59 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $38.30 million. Sierra Bancorp had a net margin of 17.91% and a return on equity of 10.48%. As a group, research analysts predict that Sierra Bancorp will post 2.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.