Do Hedge Funds Love Banner Corporation (BANR)?

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With a general bullishness amongst the heavyweights, specific money managers were leading the bulls’ herd. AlphaOne Capital Partners, managed by Paul Hondros, assembled the biggest position in Banner Corporation (NASDAQ:BANR). AlphaOne Capital Partners had $4.3 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Ken Fisher’s Fisher Asset Management also initiated a $2.9 million position during the quarter. The other funds with new positions in the stock are Matthew Hulsizer’s PEAK6 Capital Management, Mike Vranos’s Ellington, and Chao Ku’s Nine Chapters Capital Management.

Let’s now review hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Banner Corporation (NASDAQ:BANR). We will take a look at Cooper-Standard Holdings Inc (NYSE:CPS), Tornier N.V. (NASDAQ:TRNX), Enerplus Corp (USA) (NYSE:ERF), and Abaxis Inc (NASDAQ:ABAX). All of these stocks’ market caps are similar to BANR’s market cap.

Ticker No of HFs with positions Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) Change in HF Position
CPS 14 380291 -3
TRNX 14 60840 -6
ERF 12 22239 2
ABAX 12 25841 -6

As you can see these stocks had an average of 13 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $122 million. That figure was $100 million in BANR’s case. Cooper-Standard Holdings Inc (NYSE:CPS) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Enerplus Corp (USA) (NYSE:ERF) is the least popular one with only 12 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks Banner Corporation (NASDAQ:BANR) is more popular among hedge funds. Considering that hedge funds are fond of this stock in relation to its market cap peers, it may be a good idea to analyze it in detail and potentially include it in your portfolio.

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