Banner Co. (NASDAQ:BANR) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of Banner Co. (NASDAQ:BANR) have received a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the six research firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12-month price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $74.20.

Several research firms have issued reports on BANR. Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and set a $82.00 price target on shares of Banner in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of Banner from $69.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, DA Davidson upped their price target on shares of Banner from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th.

Institutional Trading of Banner

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Banner by 22.6% during the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 110,412 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $7,372,000 after purchasing an additional 20,326 shares during the period. Rafferty Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Banner by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 41,437 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,767,000 after purchasing an additional 1,438 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Banner by 44.5% during the fourth quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 10,348 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $691,000 after purchasing an additional 3,185 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Banner by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 19,531 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,304,000 after purchasing an additional 734 shares during the period. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG lifted its holdings in Banner by 241.9% in the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 117,504 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $7,846,000 after buying an additional 83,140 shares during the period. 87.33% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Banner Stock Up 0.9 %

BANR opened at $69.50 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $2.39 billion, a PE ratio of 14.24 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. Banner has a 52 week low of $42.00 and a 52 week high of $78.05. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $68.76 and its 200 day simple moving average is $65.43.

Banner (NASDAQ:BANR) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The financial services provider reported $1.33 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.22 by $0.11. Banner had a return on equity of 10.03% and a net margin of 20.28%. As a group, research analysts expect that Banner will post 5.23 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Banner Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 4th were issued a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 4th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.76%. Banner’s dividend payout ratio is currently 39.34%.

Banner Company Profile

Banner Corporation operates as the bank holding company for Banner Bank that engages in the provision of commercial banking and financial products and services to individuals, businesses, and public sector entities in the United States. It accepts various deposit instruments, including interest-bearing and non-interest-bearing checking accounts, money market deposit accounts, regular savings accounts, and certificates of deposit, as well as treasury management services and retirement savings plans.