Banner Co. (NASDAQ:BANR) Short Interest Update

Banner Co. (NASDAQ:BANR) was the recipient of a large decrease in short interest in the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 625,300 shares, a decrease of 8.1% from the October 15th total of 680,500 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 190,300 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.3 days. Currently, 1.9% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in BANR. Raymond James & Associates grew its position in shares of Banner by 4.4% during the first quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 23,587 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,381,000 after purchasing an additional 984 shares in the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. grew its position in shares of Banner by 9.9% during the first quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 30,752 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,799,000 after purchasing an additional 2,768 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can grew its position in shares of Banner by 2.3% during the first quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 11,310 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $697,000 after purchasing an additional 254 shares in the last quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Banner by 55.6% during the first quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 18,699 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,094,000 after purchasing an additional 6,682 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers grew its position in Banner by 0.5% in the first quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 96,156 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,628,000 after acquiring an additional 460 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.88% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on BANR. StockNews.com upgraded Banner from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 13th. Raymond James cut their price target on Banner from $50.00 to $47.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 20th. Finally, Stephens cut their price target on Banner from $54.00 to $51.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 20th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $56.75.

Banner Price Performance

Shares of Banner stock opened at $45.71 on Friday. Banner has a one year low of $39.31 and a one year high of $71.63. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $42.92 and its 200 day moving average is $44.54. The stock has a market cap of $1.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.06 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.81.

Banner (NASDAQ:BANR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 18th. The financial services provider reported $1.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.37 by $0.06. Banner had a return on equity of 14.15% and a net margin of 26.88%. The business had revenue of $154.42 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $157.00 million. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Banner will post 5.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Banner Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 3rd were paid a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 2nd. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.20%. Banner’s payout ratio is presently 33.86%.

About Banner

Banner Corporation operates as the bank holding company for Banner Bank that provide 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.