Banner Co. (NASDAQ:BANR) Shares Sold by Texas Permanent School Fund Corp

Texas Permanent School Fund Corp reduced its stake in shares of Banner Co. (NASDAQ:BANR) by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 30,232 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 433 shares during the period. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp’s holdings in Banner were worth $1,320,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Banner during the 1st quarter worth about $20,165,000. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Banner during the 4th quarter worth about $21,656,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in shares of Banner by 76.7% during the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 377,516 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $20,526,000 after acquiring an additional 163,811 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Banner by 2.6% during the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 5,015,507 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $272,693,000 after acquiring an additional 127,765 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp boosted its stake 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 acquiring an additional 124,919 shares in the last quarter. 84.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on BANR shares. Stephens lowered their target price on shares of Banner from $54.00 to $51.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 20th. StockNews.com raised shares of Banner from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 13th. Finally, Raymond James decreased their price target on shares of Banner from $50.00 to $47.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 20th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Banner presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $56.75.

Banner Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of Banner stock opened at $45.71 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.57 billion, a PE ratio of 8.06 and a beta of 1.01. Banner Co. has a twelve month low of $39.31 and a twelve month high of $71.63. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $42.92 and its 200 day moving average price is $44.53. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

Banner (NASDAQ:BANR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 18th. The financial services provider reported $1.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.37 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $154.42 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $157.00 million. Banner had a net margin of 26.88% and a return on equity of 14.15%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Banner Co. will post 5.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Banner Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 3rd were issued a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 2nd. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.20%. Banner’s payout ratio is 33.86%.

Banner 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.