17,200 Shares in Banner Co. (NASDAQ:BANR) Acquired by Louisiana State Employees Retirement System

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new position in shares of Banner Co. (NASDAQ:BANR) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 17,200 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $921,000. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System owned approximately 0.05% of Banner as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of BANR. CWM LLC increased its position in Banner by 923.0% during the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 757 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 683 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in Banner in the third quarter valued at approximately $690,000. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC acquired a new stake in Banner in the third quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Hennessy Advisors Inc. grew its position in Banner by 33.3% in the third quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. now owns 20,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $848,000 after acquiring an additional 5,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James & Associates grew its position in Banner by 7.3% in the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 13,475 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $571,000 after acquiring an additional 911 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.33% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BANR has been the subject of several recent research reports. Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on shares of Banner from $54.00 to $51.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Stephens lowered their price objective on shares of Banner from $54.00 to $53.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 19th. DA Davidson lowered their price objective on shares of Banner from $50.00 to $47.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on shares of Banner from $58.00 to $54.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. Finally, Raymond James increased their target price on Banner from $47.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $51.20.

Banner Stock Performance

Banner stock opened at $45.38 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $45.45 and a 200-day moving average of $46.55. Banner Co. has a 52 week low of $39.31 and a 52 week high of $55.66. The stock has a market cap of $1.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.43 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24.

Banner Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 10th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.48 per share. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.23%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 29th. Banner’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 39.92%.

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.