Timberland Bancorp, Inc., the holding company for Timberland Bank announced it was added to the Russell 3000 Index and the Russell 2000 Index when Russell investments reconstituted its comprehensive set of U.S. and global equity indexes on June 26, 2017.

“Being added to the Russell indexes is a milestone for Timberland, and we are happy to have earned this distinction,” said Michael Sand, president and CEO of Timberland. “Inclusion in these market benchmarks is expected to raise our profile with institutional investors and support trading of our shares.”

The Russell indexes are widely used by investment managers and institutional investors for both index funds and as benchmarks for passive and active investment strategies. In the U.S. marketplace, almost all of the U.S. equity assets are benchmarked by the Russell 3000, representing more than $8.5 trillion. The company will hold its membership until FTSE Russell reconstitutes its indexes in June 2018. Membership in the Russell indexes remains in place for one year and automatically provides inclusion in the appropriate Russell growth and value style indexes. FTSE Russell determines membership for these indexes primarily by objective, market-capitalization rankings.

The annual reconstitution of the Russell 3000 captures the 3,000 largest U.S. stocks as of the end of May, ranking them by total market capitalization. The largest 1,000 companies in this ranking comprise the Russell 1000 and the next 2,000 companies become the Russell 2000. The Russell 2000 also serves as the U.S. component to the Russell Global Index, which Russell launched in 2007.