Banner Co. (NASDAQ:BANR) Stock Holdings Boosted by William Blair Investment Management LLC

William Blair Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Banner Co. (NASDAQ:BANR) by 10,213.3% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 634,579 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 628,426 shares during the period. William Blair Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Banner were worth $42,371,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in Banner by 12.2% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,785,319 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $106,334,000 after purchasing an additional 193,434 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in Banner by 28.1% during the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,701,653 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $113,619,000 after purchasing an additional 373,037 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Banner by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,379,521 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $92,111,000 after purchasing an additional 49,457 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Banner by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 823,763 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $49,073,000 after purchasing an additional 11,808 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in Banner by 7.7% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 409,885 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $24,413,000 after purchasing an additional 29,174 shares in the last quarter. 87.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BANR has been the subject of a number of research reports. DA Davidson increased their price target on Banner from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on Banner from $69.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Stephens reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $82.00 price objective on shares of Banner in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $74.20.

Banner Price Performance

BANR opened at $64.72 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $68.04 and a 200-day moving average of $66.74. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.26 and a beta of 1.07. Banner Co. has a 12-month low of $42.00 and a 12-month high of $78.05. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

Banner (NASDAQ:BANR) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The financial services provider reported $1.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.22 by $0.11. Banner had a return on equity of 10.03% and a net margin of 20.28%. Equities analysts forecast that Banner Co. will post 5.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Banner Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 4th were issued a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 4th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.97%. Banner’s payout ratio is currently 39.34%.

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.