Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd Raises Stake in Banner Corporation $BANR

Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd increased its position in shares of Banner Corporation (NASDAQ:BANR) by 54.1% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 54,839 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 19,254 shares during the quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd owned about 0.16% of Banner worth $3,328,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BANR. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Banner by 836.0% in the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 22,605 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,416,000 after acquiring an additional 20,190 shares during the last quarter. Sovran Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Banner in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,147,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Banner by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,837,199 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $240,439,000 after acquiring an additional 44,249 shares during the last quarter. UBS Group AG grew its holdings in Banner by 241.2% during the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 454,807 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $28,498,000 after acquiring an additional 321,522 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Banner by 93.8% in the 4th 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. 87.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Piper Sandler upped their price target on Banner from $63.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Banner from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $72.00 target price on shares of Banner in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on shares of Banner from $73.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, May 18th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $71.00.

Banner Price Performance

Shares of BANR stock traded up $0.32 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $67.92. The stock had a trading volume of 54,996 shares, compared to its average volume of 283,604. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. The company has a market cap of $2.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.45 and a beta of 0.83. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $65.56 and a 200 day simple moving average of $63.74. Banner Corporation has a 12-month low of $57.05 and a 12-month high of $69.83.

Banner (NASDAQ:BANR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The financial services provider reported $1.59 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.38 by $0.21. The business had revenue of $168.91 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $169.60 million. Banner had a net margin of 23.24% and a return on equity of 10.77%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Banner Corporation will post 6.12 earnings per share for the current year.

Banner Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 5th were paid a dividend of $0.52 per share. This is an increase from Banner’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 5th. Banner’s payout ratio is 35.02%.

Banner 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.