Banner Co. (NASDAQ:BANR) Stake Lifted by Citigroup Inc.

Citigroup Inc. increased its stake in Banner Co. (NASDAQ:BANR) by 11.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 65,472 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,790 shares during the period. Citigroup Inc.’s holdings in Banner were worth $3,900,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in BANR. Foundry Partners LLC lifted its stake in Banner by 2.3% during the third quarter. Foundry Partners LLC now owns 6,194 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $369,000 after purchasing an additional 137 shares during the last quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System lifted its position in shares of Banner by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 17,300 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $859,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC lifted its position in Banner by 19.5% in the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,275 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $136,000 after buying an additional 371 shares in the last quarter. Diversified Trust Co lifted its position in Banner by 4.8% in the 2nd quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 10,382 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $515,000 after buying an additional 476 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rosenthal Henry Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Banner by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. Rosenthal Henry Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 33,133 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,973,000 after buying an additional 700 shares in the last quarter. 87.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have issued reports on BANR. DA Davidson increased their target price on shares of Banner from $60.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Piper Sandler set a $67.00 price target on shares of Banner in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Raymond James increased their price target on shares of Banner from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Banner currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $61.60.

Banner Price Performance

Shares of Banner stock opened at $73.29 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $2.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.33 and a beta of 1.07. Banner Co. has a twelve month low of $42.00 and a twelve month high of $78.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 0.85. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $67.18 and its 200-day simple moving average is $58.05.

Banner (NASDAQ:BANR) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.18 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $213.90 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $152.95 million. Banner had a net margin of 20.28% and a return on equity of 10.22%. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.43 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Banner Co. will post 4.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Banner Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 5th were issued a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.62%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 5th. Banner’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 40.17%.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP James P.G. Mclean sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.63, for a total transaction of $113,445.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 21,868 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,653,876.84. This represents a 6.42 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

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.