Sei Investments Co. Decreases Position in Banner Co. (NASDAQ:BANR)

Sei Investments Co. reduced its stake in Banner Co. (NASDAQ:BANR) by 5.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 118,781 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 6,602 shares during the period. Sei Investments Co. owned 0.34% of Banner worth $7,931,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. American Century Companies Inc. grew its position in shares of Banner by 5.5% in the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 738,356 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $49,300,000 after buying an additional 38,454 shares during the last quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas acquired a new stake in Banner during the 4th quarter worth $209,000. Intech Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Banner by 52.2% during the fourth quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 16,455 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,099,000 after buying an additional 5,643 shares during the last quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Banner by 10,213.3% in the fourth quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 634,579 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $42,371,000 after purchasing an additional 628,426 shares during the period. Finally, Cibc World Markets Corp acquired a new position in Banner in the 4th quarter valued at $214,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.33% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BANR has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of Banner from $69.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $82.00 price target on shares of Banner in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, DA Davidson upped their price objective on Banner from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. One 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $74.20.

Banner Stock Performance

BANR opened at $63.81 on Monday. Banner Co. has a 1-year low of $42.00 and a 1-year high of $78.05. The stock has a market cap of $2.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.08 and a beta of 1.07. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $67.46 and its 200 day simple moving average is $67.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.85.

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

Banner Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 4th were given a dividend of $0.48 per share. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.01%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 4th. Banner’s payout ratio is currently 39.34%.

Banner Company Profile

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.