Tower Research Capital LLC TRC Grows Stock Holdings in Banner Co. (NASDAQ:BANR)

Tower Research Capital LLC TRC grew its holdings in Banner Co. (NASDAQ:BANR) by 942.4% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,574 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,423 shares during the quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC’s holdings in Banner were worth $86,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. BlackRock Inc. lifted its stake in Banner by 1.5% in the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 5,045,063 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $295,288,000 after purchasing an additional 72,304 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Banner by 1.9% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,854,556 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $225,607,000 after buying an additional 71,559 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Banner by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,342,715 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $148,058,000 after buying an additional 10,449 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Banner by 7.4% during the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,821,229 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $106,597,000 after buying an additional 124,919 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Banner by 9.1% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 919,836 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $58,134,000 after buying an additional 76,890 shares during the last quarter. 84.88% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on BANR. Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and set a $53.00 price target on shares of Banner in a report on Thursday, July 20th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Banner from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, August 25th. Finally, Raymond James cut their price target on shares of Banner from $58.00 to $50.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 21st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Banner presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $60.40.

Banner Stock Up 2.5 %

Banner stock opened at $44.66 on Tuesday. Banner Co. has a fifty-two week low of $41.57 and a fifty-two week high of $75.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.81. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $45.53 and a 200 day moving average price of $49.18. The company has a market capitalization of $1.53 billion, a PE ratio of 7.74 and a beta of 1.02.

Banner (NASDAQ:BANR) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 19th. The financial services provider reported $1.32 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.56 by ($0.24). Banner had a net margin of 28.30% and a return on equity of 14.40%. The company had revenue of $150.94 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $167.26 million. Research analysts expect that Banner Co. will post 5.74 earnings per share for the current year.

Banner Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 11th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 1st were paid a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, July 31st. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.30%. Banner’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 33.28%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Banner news, Director Roberto R. Herencia purchased 667 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 13th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $45.77 per share, for a total transaction of $30,528.59. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 12,839 shares in the company, valued at approximately $587,641.03. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Banner Company Profile

Banner Corporation operates as the bank holding company for Banner Bank that provide 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.