Eagle Asset Management Inc. Purchases New Stake in Banner Co. (NASDAQ:BANR)

Eagle Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Banner Co. (NASDAQ:BANR) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 108,751 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $6,477,000. Eagle Asset Management Inc. owned about 0.32% of Banner as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Banner by 1.6% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,361,774 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $117,236,000 after purchasing an additional 37,780 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Banner by 3.4% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,330,064 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $79,219,000 after purchasing an additional 43,398 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Banner by 79.5% in the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,328,616 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $79,132,000 after purchasing an additional 588,591 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its stake in Banner by 18.4% during the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 795,929 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $39,510,000 after buying an additional 123,903 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Westwood Holdings Group Inc. raised its stake in Banner by 3.7% during the first quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 717,058 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $34,419,000 after buying an additional 25,525 shares in the last quarter. 87.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Raymond James upped their price objective on Banner from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. DA Davidson upped their price objective on Banner from $60.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Piper Sandler set a $67.00 price objective on Banner in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Banner presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $61.60.

Insider Buying and Selling at Banner

In other news, VP James P.G. Mclean sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.63, for a total transaction of $113,445.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 21,868 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,653,876.84. This trade represents a 6.42 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 1.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Banner Stock Performance

Shares of BANR stock opened at $75.47 on Monday. Banner Co. has a 12-month low of $42.00 and a 12-month high of $77.01. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.79 and a beta of 1.04. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $65.08 and a 200 day simple moving average of $56.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.84.

Banner (NASDAQ:BANR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.18 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $213.90 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $152.95 million. Banner had a return on equity of 10.22% and a net margin of 20.28%. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.43 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Banner Co. will post 4.88 EPS for the current year.

Banner Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 5th were paid a dividend of $0.48 per share. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.54%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, November 5th. Banner’s payout ratio is currently 40.17%.

Banner 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.