William Blair Investment Management LLC Grows Holdings in Banner Corporation $BANR

William Blair Investment Management LLC raised its position in Banner Corporation (NASDAQ:BANR) by 0.4% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 625,382 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,741 shares during the period. William Blair Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Banner were worth $40,118,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Banner by 1.4% in the second quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 13,120 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $842,000 after buying an additional 181 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in Banner by 26.3% in the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 952 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $61,000 after buying an additional 198 shares in the last quarter. US Bancorp DE increased its holdings in Banner by 13.1% in the first quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 1,978 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $126,000 after buying an additional 229 shares in the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Banner by 5.0% in the first quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 4,808 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $307,000 after buying an additional 230 shares in the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV increased its holdings in Banner by 20.1% in the first quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,989 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $127,000 after buying an additional 333 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.33% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Banner from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of Banner from $73.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday. Raymond James Financial reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $70.00 target price (down previously from $72.00) on shares of Banner in a research note on Friday. DA Davidson cut their target price on shares of Banner from $73.00 to $69.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Banner in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $71.40.

Banner Stock Down 1.1%

BANR stock opened at $61.75 on Friday. Banner Corporation has a 52 week low of $54.01 and a 52 week high of $78.05. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.25 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $65.23 and a 200-day simple moving average of $63.71.

Banner (NASDAQ:BANR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $1.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.41 by $0.11. Banner had a net margin of 21.80% and a return on equity of 10.32%. The company had revenue of $168.75 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $171.52 million. Equities analysts forecast that Banner Corporation will post 5.23 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Banner Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 14th. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 4th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.2%. This is a boost from Banner’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. Banner’s dividend payout ratio is currently 36.43%.

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.