Banner Corporation (NASDAQ:BANR) Receives $70.83 Consensus PT from Analysts

Banner Corporation (NASDAQ:BANR) has received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the six ratings firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $70.83.

Several research firms have recently issued reports on BANR. Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $73.00 price target on shares of Banner in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Janney Montgomery Scott raised shares of Banner from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $71.00 target price for the company in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Banner from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 29th. Raymond James Financial reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $65.00 target price (down previously from $77.00) on shares of Banner in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price on shares of Banner from $75.00 to $73.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 21st.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Banner

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Banner by 20.3% in the first quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,047,260 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $130,554,000 after purchasing an additional 345,607 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Banner by 4.3% in the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,439,174 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $91,776,000 after purchasing an additional 59,653 shares during the period. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Banner by 122.8% in the first quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 1,142,987 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $72,888,000 after purchasing an additional 630,004 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its holdings in Banner by 11.6% in the first quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 845,790 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $53,936,000 after purchasing an additional 88,056 shares during the period. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. lifted its holdings in Banner by 5.5% in the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 738,356 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $49,300,000 after acquiring an additional 38,454 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.33% of the company’s stock.

Banner Stock Performance

NASDAQ:BANR opened at $66.71 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $64.00 and its 200 day moving average price is $64.82. Banner has a 1-year low of $51.14 and a 1-year high of $78.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.85. The firm has a market cap of $2.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.11 and a beta of 0.89.

Banner (NASDAQ:BANR) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.29 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.23 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $159.88 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $159.72 million. Banner had a net margin of 20.77% and a return on equity of 9.95%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.22 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Banner will post 5.23 EPS for the current year.

Banner Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 9th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 29th were issued a dividend of $0.48 per share. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.88%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, April 29th. Banner’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 37.72%.

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.