William Blair Investment Management LLC Acquires 2,741 Shares of Banner Corporation $BANR

William Blair Investment Management LLC raised its position in Banner Corporation (NASDAQ:BANR) by 0.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 625,382 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,741 shares during the period. William Blair Investment Management LLC owned approximately 1.81% of Banner worth $40,118,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in Banner by 2.7% in the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 171,592 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $10,942,000 after acquiring an additional 4,503 shares in the last quarter. Focus Partners Wealth boosted its stake in Banner by 173.9% in the first quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 70,242 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,479,000 after acquiring an additional 44,597 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake 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 acquiring an additional 198 shares in the last quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Banner by 39.1% in the first quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 39,477 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,517,000 after acquiring an additional 11,089 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in Banner by 141.4% in the first quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 29,071 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,854,000 after acquiring an additional 17,030 shares in the last quarter. 87.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on BANR shares. Raymond James Financial restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $70.00 target price (down from $72.00) on shares of Banner in a research note on Friday. 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 research note on Friday. DA Davidson lowered their price objective on shares of Banner from $73.00 to $69.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Banner from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Banner in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Banner has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $71.40.

Banner Trading Down 1.1%

NASDAQ BANR opened at $61.75 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.14 billion, a PE ratio of 11.25 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a fifty day moving average of $65.23 and a 200 day moving average of $63.71. Banner Corporation has a 1 year low of $54.01 and a 1 year high of $78.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.88.

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

Banner Increases Dividend

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

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.