Banner Co. (NASDAQ:BANR) Short Interest Down 16.8% in October

Banner Co. (NASDAQ:BANR) was the target of a significant drop in short interest during the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 701,100 shares, a drop of 16.8% from the October 15th total of 842,300 shares. Approximately 2.1% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 220,400 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.2 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on BANR shares. Raymond James lifted their price objective on shares of Banner from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Piper Sandler set a $67.00 target price on shares of Banner in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Janney Montgomery Scott lowered Banner from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, July 19th. Finally, DA Davidson boosted their target price on Banner from $60.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $61.60.

Insider Buying and Selling at Banner

In other news, VP James P.G. Mclean sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.63, for a total transaction of $113,445.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 21,868 shares in the company, valued at $1,653,876.84. This trade represents a 6.42 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Banner

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of BANR. EntryPoint Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of Banner by 100.9% during the first quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC now owns 1,111 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $53,000 after purchasing an additional 558 shares in the last quarter. Innealta Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Banner during the second quarter valued at $53,000. US Bancorp DE grew its stake in shares of Banner by 287.1% in the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 1,436 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $86,000 after purchasing an additional 1,065 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC increased its position in shares of Banner by 60.1% during the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,904 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $94,000 after purchasing an additional 715 shares during the period. Finally, Quest Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Banner in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $152,000. 87.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Banner Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of Banner stock opened at $73.52 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $2.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.38 and a beta of 1.04. Banner has a 52-week low of $42.00 and a 52-week high of $77.01. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $63.43 and its 200-day simple moving average is $55.54. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30.

Banner (NASDAQ:BANR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.30 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.18 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $213.90 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $152.95 million. Banner had a net margin of 20.28% and a return on equity of 10.22%. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.43 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Banner will post 4.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Banner Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 5th were issued a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, November 5th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.61%. Banner’s payout ratio is 40.17%.

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.