Banner Co. (NASDAQ:BANR) to Issue $0.48 Quarterly Dividend

Banner Co. (NASDAQ:BANR) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, April 17th, Zacks reports. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 30th will be given a dividend of 0.48 per share by the financial services provider on Friday, May 10th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.39%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 29th.

Banner has increased its dividend by an average of 5.4% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 2 years. Banner has a dividend payout ratio of 38.6% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Banner to earn $5.13 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.92 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 37.4%.

Banner Stock Up 1.3 %

BANR opened at $43.73 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $45.35 and a 200 day moving average of $46.43. The company has a market cap of $1.50 billion, a PE ratio of 9.09 and a beta of 1.03. Banner has a 12 month low of $39.31 and a 12 month high of $55.66. The company has a current ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40.

Banner (NASDAQ:BANR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 18th. The financial services provider reported $1.34 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.31 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $152.46 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $155.54 million. Banner had a net margin of 21.62% and a return on equity of 11.64%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Banner will post 4.64 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently commented on BANR. Raymond James raised their price objective on shares of Banner from $47.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, January 22nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on shares of Banner from $58.00 to $54.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a 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. According to data from MarketBeat, Banner currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $53.75.

Institutional Trading of Banner

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Raymond James & Associates raised its position in Banner by 4.4% in the 1st quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 23,587 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,381,000 after purchasing an additional 984 shares during the period. Citigroup Inc. raised its position in Banner by 9.9% in the 1st quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 30,752 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,799,000 after purchasing an additional 2,768 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can raised 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 worth $697,000 after purchasing an additional 254 shares during the period. MetLife Investment Management LLC raised its position in Banner by 55.6% in the 1st quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 18,699 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,094,000 after purchasing an additional 6,682 shares during the period. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers raised its position in Banner by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 96,156 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,628,000 after purchasing an additional 460 shares during the period. 87.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Banner

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.