Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership Grows Stake in Sierra Bancorp (NASDAQ:BSRR)

Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its position in shares of Sierra Bancorp (NASDAQ:BSRR) by 7.7% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 56,701 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,035 shares during the quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership’s holdings in Sierra Bancorp were worth $1,640,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. FMR LLC grew its position in shares of Sierra Bancorp by 12.5% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 194,573 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,619,000 after acquiring an additional 21,558 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Sierra Bancorp by 3.6% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 321,257 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $9,278,000 after purchasing an additional 11,095 shares during the period. Jane Street Group LLC increased its position in Sierra Bancorp by 9.7% in the third quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 16,827 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $486,000 after buying an additional 1,484 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC raised its stake in shares of Sierra Bancorp by 301.7% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 16,896 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $488,000 after buying an additional 12,690 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Sierra Bancorp during the 3rd quarter valued at about $216,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 55.40% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, StockNews.com lowered shares of Sierra Bancorp from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th.

Sierra Bancorp Trading Down 6.3 %

BSRR stock opened at $24.40 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $28.96 and a 200 day moving average price of $29.46. Sierra Bancorp has a fifty-two week low of $17.70 and a fifty-two week high of $35.13. The firm has a market cap of $340.72 million, a PE ratio of 8.68 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.79.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.72. Sierra Bancorp had a return on equity of 11.55% and a net margin of 19.90%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Sierra Bancorp will post 2.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sierra Bancorp Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.10%. This is an increase from Sierra Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 3rd. Sierra Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is presently 35.59%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Sierra Bancorp news, EVP Michael Olague sold 3,563 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.15, for a total transaction of $110,987.45. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 12,409 shares in the company, valued at $386,540.35. This trade represents a 22.31 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Julie G. Castle sold 1,104 shares of Sierra Bancorp stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.00, for a total value of $35,328.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 4,157 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $133,024. The trade was a 20.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 5,393 shares of company stock valued at $166,994. Insiders own 11.86% 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.