Banner Co. (BANR) To Go Ex-Dividend on April 29th

Banner Co. (NASDAQ:BANR) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, April 17th, Zacks reports. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 30th will be paid a dividend of 0.48 per share by the financial services provider on Friday, May 10th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.39%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 29th.

Banner has raised its dividend by an average of 5.4% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 2 years. Banner has a payout ratio of 38.6% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research 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 Trading Up 1.3 %

Shares of Banner stock opened at $43.73 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.09 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $45.35 and a 200 day simple moving average of $46.43. Banner has a 12-month low of $39.31 and a 12-month high of $55.66.

Banner (NASDAQ:BANR) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 18th. The financial services provider reported $1.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.31 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $152.46 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $155.54 million. Banner had a net margin of 21.62% and a return on equity of 11.64%. Research analysts expect that Banner will post 4.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Banner

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Hsbc Holdings PLC boosted its stake in shares of Banner by 47.3% in the 1st quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 65,113 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,840,000 after purchasing an additional 20,917 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Banner by 6.7% in the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 731,161 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $42,795,000 after purchasing an additional 45,861 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Banner by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 70,984 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,155,000 after purchasing an additional 399 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Banner by 1.9% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,854,556 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $225,607,000 after purchasing an additional 71,559 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Banner by 17.3% in the 1st quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 8,736 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $511,000 after purchasing an additional 1,286 shares during the last quarter. 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 dropped their target price on shares of Banner from $58.00 to $54.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. Raymond James increased their target price 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. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $53.75.

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.