Royce & Associates LP Buys 61,900 Shares of Glacier Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:GBCI)

Key Points

• Royce & Associates LP increased its stake in Glacier Bancorp by 25.5%, acquiring an additional 61,900 shares, bringing its total holdings to 304,924 shares valued at approximately $13.48 million.
• Glacier Bancorp's shares have received positive attention from analysts, with both Janney Montgomery Scott and Raymond James Financial upgrading their price targets to $48.00, while Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised theirs to $52.00.
• The company recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.33 per share, resulting in an annualized dividend yield of 2.91%, with a payout ratio currently at 68.75%.

Royce & Associates LP grew its stake in shares of Glacier Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:GBCI - Free Report) by 25.5% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 304,924 shares of the bank's stock after acquiring an additional 61,900 shares during the quarter. Royce & Associates LP owned about 0.27% of Glacier Bancorp worth $13,484,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. First Interstate Bank purchased a new position in shares of Glacier Bancorp in the first quarter worth approximately $593,000. Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Glacier Bancorp by 1,839.2% in the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 9,599 shares of the bank's stock worth $424,000 after buying an additional 9,104 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Glacier Bancorp by 4,580.7% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 142,388 shares of the bank's stock worth $6,296,000 after buying an additional 139,346 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Glacier Bancorp by 3.7% in the first quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 189,263 shares of the bank's stock worth $8,369,000 after buying an additional 6,806 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Glacier Bancorp by 1.0% in the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 262,897 shares of the bank's stock worth $11,625,000 after buying an additional 2,477 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.17% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Janney Montgomery Scott raised shares of Glacier Bancorp from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $48.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Thursday, June 5th. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of Glacier Bancorp from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday. Raymond James Financial reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $48.00 price objective (up previously from $45.00) on shares of Glacier Bancorp in a report on Thursday, June 26th. DA Davidson reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $50.00 price objective on shares of Glacier Bancorp in a report on Wednesday, June 25th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of Glacier Bancorp from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Friday, June 27th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Glacier Bancorp presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $50.00.

Glacier Bancorp Price Performance

NASDAQ:GBCI traded up $1.09 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $46.40. 264,885 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 698,936. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63. Glacier Bancorp, Inc. has a 1 year low of $36.76 and a 1 year high of $60.67. The company has a market cap of $5.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.78 and a beta of 0.77. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $43.32 and a 200 day moving average price of $44.64.

Glacier Bancorp (NASDAQ:GBCI - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The bank reported $0.45 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.49 by ($0.04). Glacier Bancorp had a net margin of 14.99% and a return on equity of 5.98%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.39 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Glacier Bancorp, Inc. will post 2.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Glacier Bancorp Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, July 8th were given a dividend of $0.33 per share. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.84%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, July 8th. Glacier Bancorp's payout ratio is currently 68.75%.

About Glacier Bancorp

Glacier Bancorp, Inc operates as the bank holding company for Glacier Bank that provides commercial banking services to individuals, small to medium-sized businesses, community organizations, and public entities in the United States. The company offers retail banking, business banking, and mortgage origination and loan servicing services.