Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Invests $921,000 in Banner Co. (NASDAQ:BANR)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new position in shares of Banner Co. (NASDAQ:BANR) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund acquired 17,200 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $921,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Banner by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,146,849 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $175,743,000 after purchasing an additional 36,850 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Banner by 4.6% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 966,979 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $40,981,000 after buying an additional 42,871 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in Banner by 13.5% in the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 315,039 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $13,351,000 after buying an additional 37,543 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in Banner by 950.6% in the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 184,833 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $7,833,000 after buying an additional 167,240 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mutual of America Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Banner by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC now owns 143,387 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,077,000 after buying an additional 2,720 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.33% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently commented on BANR. Raymond James boosted their price target on Banner from $47.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. Stephens reduced their price objective on Banner from $54.00 to $53.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 19th. DA Davidson reduced their price objective on Banner from $50.00 to $47.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on Banner from $58.00 to $54.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. Finally, Piper Sandler dropped their target price on Banner from $54.00 to $51.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $51.20.

Banner Trading Down 1.7 %

Shares of Banner stock opened at $45.38 on Friday. Banner Co. has a 12-month low of $39.31 and a 12-month high of $55.66. The stock has a market cap of $1.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.43 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The business’s 50 day moving average is $45.45 and its 200-day moving average is $46.55.

Banner Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 10th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.48 per share. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.23%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 29th. Banner’s dividend payout ratio is currently 39.92%.

About Banner

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.