Banner Co. (NASDAQ:BANR) Shares Sold by Phocas Financial Corp.

Phocas Financial Corp. decreased its position in Banner Co. (NASDAQ:BANR) by 5.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 118,787 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 7,353 shares during the period. Phocas Financial Corp. owned 0.34% of Banner worth $7,075,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Boston Partners acquired a new stake in Banner during the first quarter worth $1,025,000. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. lifted its position in Banner by 3.7% in the first quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 717,058 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $34,419,000 after buying an additional 25,525 shares during the last quarter. Versor Investments LP purchased a new position in Banner during the third quarter worth about $439,000. Panagora Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Banner by 2.7% during the second quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 203,759 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $10,115,000 after acquiring an additional 5,380 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in shares of Banner by 2.7% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 432,402 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $21,464,000 after acquiring an additional 11,278 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.33% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on BANR shares. DA Davidson increased their price objective on shares of Banner from $60.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Piper Sandler set a $67.00 price objective on shares of Banner in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Raymond James upped their target price on shares of Banner from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $61.60.

Insider Activity at Banner

In other news, VP James P.G. Mclean sold 1,500 shares of Banner stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.63, for a total transaction of $113,445.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 21,868 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,653,876.84. The trade was a 6.42 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 1.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Banner Stock Performance

Shares of Banner stock opened at $72.87 on Tuesday. Banner Co. has a one year low of $42.00 and a one year high of $77.01. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $63.75 and a 200-day simple moving average of $55.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 0.85. The company has a market cap of $2.51 billion, a PE ratio of 15.24 and a beta of 1.04.

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

Banner Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 5th were paid a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, November 5th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.63%. Banner’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.