Banner Co. (NASDAQ:BANR) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

Banner Co. (NASDAQ:BANR) saw a large growth in short interest in the month of August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 814,200 shares, a growth of 10.4% from the August 15th total of 737,800 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 183,300 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 4.4 days. Currently, 2.4% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BANR has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on Banner from $51.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 19th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Banner from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, June 8th. Janney Montgomery Scott lowered shares of Banner from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Finally, Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and set a $53.00 target price on shares of Banner in a report on Thursday, July 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Banner has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $54.00.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Banner

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in BANR. TFO Wealth Partners LLC raised its holdings in Banner by 35,800.0% in the fourth quarter. TFO Wealth Partners LLC now owns 718 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 716 shares in the last quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of Banner by 100.9% in the 1st quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC now owns 1,111 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $53,000 after purchasing an additional 558 shares in the last quarter. Innealta Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Banner during the second quarter worth about $53,000. CWM LLC grew its stake in Banner by 60.1% in the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,904 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $94,000 after purchasing an additional 715 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quest Partners LLC bought a new stake in Banner in the second quarter valued at about $152,000. 87.33% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Banner Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ BANR traded up $0.41 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $58.70. 13,416 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 183,724. Banner has a twelve month low of $39.31 and a twelve month high of $61.77. The company has a market capitalization of $2.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.21 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $56.74 and its 200 day moving average price is $49.91.

Banner (NASDAQ:BANR) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 17th. The financial services provider reported $1.17 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.14 by $0.03. Banner had a return on equity of 10.89% and a net margin of 20.93%. The company had revenue of $149.75 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $149.66 million. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Banner will post 4.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Banner Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 16th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 6th were given a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.27%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 6th. Banner’s payout ratio is 39.92%.

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.