Aristotle Capital Boston LLC Reduces Holdings in Banner Corporation $BANR

Aristotle Capital Boston LLC lowered its position in shares of Banner Corporation (NASDAQ:BANR) by 9.4% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 218,172 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 22,537 shares during the period. Aristotle Capital Boston LLC’s holdings in Banner were worth $13,671,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its holdings in Banner by 836.0% during the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 22,605 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,416,000 after purchasing an additional 20,190 shares in the last quarter. Sovran Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Banner during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,147,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Banner by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,837,199 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $240,439,000 after purchasing an additional 44,249 shares in the last quarter. UBS Group AG lifted its holdings in Banner by 241.2% during the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 454,807 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $28,498,000 after purchasing an additional 321,522 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. lifted its holdings in Banner by 93.8% during the fourth quarter. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. now owns 488,295 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $30,597,000 after purchasing an additional 236,394 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.33% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have weighed in on BANR. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $72.00 price target on shares of Banner in a report on Monday, May 4th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Banner in a report on Thursday, June 4th. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of Banner from $63.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of Banner from $73.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, May 18th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Banner from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, February 28th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $71.00.

Banner Trading Down 2.1%

Shares of BANR opened at $64.76 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $64.87 and its 200 day moving average is $63.59. Banner Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $57.05 and a fifty-two week high of $69.83. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.20 billion, a PE ratio of 10.90 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.86.

Banner (NASDAQ:BANR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The financial services provider reported $1.59 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.38 by $0.21. Banner had a net margin of 23.24% and a return on equity of 10.77%. The company had revenue of $168.91 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $169.60 million. Sell-side analysts expect that Banner Corporation will post 6.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Banner Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 5th were given a $0.52 dividend. This is a boost from Banner’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.2%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 5th. Banner’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 35.02%.

Banner Company Profile

Banner Corporation, through its principal subsidiary Banner Bank, operates as a regional commercial bank headquartered in Walla Walla, Washington. Founded in 2000 as a bank holding company, Banner traces its origins to community banking roots in Eastern Washington dating back to the late 19th century. Over the past two decades, the company has grown through both organic expansion and strategic acquisitions, establishing a strong presence throughout the Pacific Northwest.

The company offers a comprehensive suite of financial products and services for individual and business clients.