Westwood Holdings Group Inc. Raises Holdings in Banner Corporation $BANR

Westwood Holdings Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Banner Corporation (NASDAQ:BANR) by 3.2% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,179,927 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 36,940 shares during the period. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. owned approximately 3.41% of Banner worth $75,692,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of BANR. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS lifted its stake in shares of Banner by 7.7% during the second quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 8,878 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $570,000 after purchasing an additional 631 shares in the last quarter. Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey grew its stake in Banner by 5.6% during the 2nd quarter. Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey now owns 7,771 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $499,000 after purchasing an additional 414 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Banner by 0.5% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 866,906 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $55,619,000 after purchasing an additional 3,921 shares in the last quarter. CSM Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Banner in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $423,000. Finally, Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC purchased a new position in shares of Banner during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $685,000. 87.33% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently issued reports on BANR shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of Banner from $73.00 to $74.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, October 17th. Weiss Ratings lowered Banner from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Friday, October 24th. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $70.00 target price (down previously from $72.00) on shares of Banner in a report on Friday, October 17th. DA Davidson dropped their price target on Banner from $73.00 to $69.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 17th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Banner from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, October 18th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Banner presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $71.40.

Banner Stock Up 0.0%

BANR stock opened at $61.53 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $2.10 billion, a PE ratio of 11.21 and a beta of 0.96. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $63.52 and its 200 day simple moving average is $64.03. Banner Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $54.01 and a fifty-two week high of $78.05. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

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

Banner Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 4th were paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 4th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.3%. This is a boost from Banner’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. Banner’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.43%.

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.