Bank of the Sierra’s parent company is starting a share repurchase program. 

Sierra Bancorp’s board of directors approved the program, which authorizes the company to repurchase up to one million shares of its outstanding common stock. 

The Porterville-based bank — the region’s largest community bank by total assets — says the program is an effort to return capital to its shareholders to enhance long-term shareholder value.

Shares may be repurchased in open-market transactions or privately negotiated transactions. Sierra Bancorp described its program as repurchasing from time to time, depending on price, trading volume, corporate and regulatory requirements and market conditions.

Management will partner with a broker-dealer to facilitate the program through a 10b5-1 plan, a rule established by the Securities and Exchange Commission that allows management to set up a plan for selling stocks they own. It allows them to sell a predetermined number of shares. 

The board of directors also declared a regular quarterly cash dividend of $0.22 per share, which will be paid Nov. 11 to shareholders of record as of Oct. 29, 2021.