Banner Corporation (NASDAQ:BANR) Given Consensus Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" by Analysts

Key Points

• Banner Corporation (NASDAQ:BANR) has received a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from analysts, with a 1-year target price averaging $71.40.
• The company recently reported a quarterly earnings of $1.52 EPS, beating estimates, and announced a dividend increase to $0.50 per share, reflecting a 3.2% yield.
• Hedge funds and institutional investors hold approximately 87.33% of Banner's stock, indicating significant institutional interest and activity in the company's shares.

Banner Corporation (NASDAQ:BANR - Get Free Report) has received a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the six brokerages that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $71.40.

BANR has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "buy (b-)" rating on shares of Banner in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. DA Davidson cut their price objective on shares of Banner from $73.00 to $69.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Banner from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on shares of Banner from $73.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $70.00 price objective (down from $72.00) on shares of Banner in a report on Friday.

Banner Stock Performance

Shares of BANR stock opened at $62.81 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.17 billion, a PE ratio of 11.44 and a beta of 0.91. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $65.24 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $63.79. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Banner has a 12 month low of $54.01 and a 12 month high of $78.05.

Banner (NASDAQ:BANR - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $1.52 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.41 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $168.75 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $171.52 million. Banner had a net margin of 21.80% and a return on equity of 10.32%. Analysts forecast that Banner will post 5.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Banner Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 14th. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 4th will be issued a $0.50 dividend. This is an increase from Banner's previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 4th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.2%. Banner's payout ratio is presently 34.97%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Banner

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Banner in the 2nd quarter worth about $45,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in Banner by 53.9% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 754 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $48,000 after purchasing an additional 264 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP lifted its holdings in Banner by 4,612.0% during the first quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,178 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $75,000 after purchasing an additional 1,153 shares during the last quarter. AlphaQuest LLC purchased a new stake in Banner during the second quarter valued at about $99,000. Finally, CWM LLC lifted its holdings in Banner by 21.9% during the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,619 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $106,000 after purchasing an additional 291 shares during the last quarter. 87.33% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.

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