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

Banner Co. (NASDAQ:BANR) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, April 17th, Zacks reports. Stockholders 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 dividend 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 increased its dividend annually for the last 2 consecutive years. Banner has a payout ratio of 38.6% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities 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 stock opened at $43.73 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $1.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.09 and a beta of 1.03. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $45.35 and a two-hundred day moving average of $46.43. 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 issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 18th. The financial services provider reported $1.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.31 by $0.03. Banner had a return on equity of 11.64% and a net margin of 21.62%. The company had revenue of $152.46 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $155.54 million. As a group, analysts forecast that Banner will post 4.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Banner

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. BlackRock Inc. lifted its stake in Banner by 1.5% during the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 5,045,063 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $295,288,000 after purchasing an additional 72,304 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Banner by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,187,837 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $224,301,000 after acquiring an additional 40,988 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its position in Banner by 7.4% in the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,821,229 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $106,597,000 after acquiring an additional 124,919 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Banner by 9.1% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 919,836 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $58,134,000 after purchasing an additional 76,890 shares during the period. Finally, Nuveen Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Banner by 7.5% during the second quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 891,606 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $38,936,000 after purchasing an additional 62,356 shares in the last quarter. 87.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on BANR shares. 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 research report on Monday, January 22nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on shares of Banner from $58.00 to $54.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $53.75.

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.