Banner Co. (NASDAQ:BANR) Short Interest Up 5.6% in March

Banner Co. (NASDAQ:BANR) was the target of a large increase in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 878,500 shares, an increase of 5.6% from the March 15th total of 832,300 shares. Approximately 2.6% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 198,500 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.4 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on BANR shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on Banner from $58.00 to $54.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 22nd. Raymond James increased their price target on Banner from $47.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $53.75.

Banner Stock Up 0.4 %

NASDAQ BANR opened at $43.15 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $1.48 billion, a PE ratio of 8.10 and a beta of 1.03. Banner has a one year low of $39.31 and a one year high of $55.66. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $45.36 and its 200 day simple moving average is $46.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.83.

Banner (NASDAQ:BANR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 18th. The financial services provider reported $1.34 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.31 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $152.46 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $155.54 million. Banner had a return on equity of 12.96% and a net margin of 24.61%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Banner will post 4.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Banner Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 16th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 7th were given a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 6th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.45%. Banner’s payout ratio is 36.02%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. BNP Paribas Arbitrage SA boosted its position in Banner by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. BNP Paribas Arbitrage SA now owns 14,703 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $826,000 after buying an additional 191 shares during the last quarter. UBS Asset Management Americas Inc. boosted its position in Banner by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. UBS Asset Management Americas Inc. now owns 38,436 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,271,000 after buying an additional 227 shares during the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in Banner by 19.0% in the 4th quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,535 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $82,000 after buying an additional 245 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can boosted its position in Banner by 2.3% in the 1st quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 11,310 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $697,000 after buying an additional 254 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Eagle Bay Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Banner by 126.7% in the 2nd quarter. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC now owns 501 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 280 shares during the last quarter. 87.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.