Banc of California, Inc. (NYSE:BANC) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Banc of California, Inc. (NYSE:BANC) has earned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eleven brokerages that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and seven have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $18.18.

BANC has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Banc of California from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $17.00 to $20.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. initiated coverage on Banc of California in a research report on Friday, February 7th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $18.00 target price on the stock. DA Davidson upped their target price on Banc of California from $16.50 to $19.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Raymond James upped their target price on Banc of California from $17.00 to $18.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Barclays dropped their target price on Banc of California from $20.00 to $19.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 24th.

Banc of California Price Performance

Shares of BANC stock opened at $15.59 on Friday. Banc of California has a fifty-two week low of $11.88 and a fifty-two week high of $18.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.84 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 0.90. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $15.92 and its 200-day simple moving average is $15.27.

Banc of California (NYSE:BANC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The bank reported $0.28 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.23 by $0.05. Banc of California had a return on equity of 6.20% and a net margin of 7.06%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Banc of California will post 1.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Banc of California Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.57%. Banc of California’s dividend payout ratio is presently 71.43%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Banc of California

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. PL Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Banc of California by 1,446.0% during the 4th quarter. PL Capital Advisors LLC now owns 46,754,426 shares of the bank’s stock worth $722,823,000 after buying an additional 43,730,207 shares during the period. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Banc of California by 6.3% during the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,913,012 shares of the bank’s stock worth $168,716,000 after buying an additional 644,330 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in shares of Banc of California by 274.6% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 5,393,076 shares of the bank’s stock worth $83,377,000 after buying an additional 3,953,380 shares during the period. William Blair Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Banc of California by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 2,556,614 shares of the bank’s stock worth $39,525,000 after buying an additional 62,269 shares during the period. Finally, Verition Fund Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Banc of California by 93.2% during the 3rd quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 2,476,387 shares of the bank’s stock worth $36,477,000 after buying an additional 1,194,839 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.88% of the company’s stock.

Banc of California Company Profile

Banc of California, Inc operates as the bank holding company for Banc of California that provides various banking products and services in California. The company offers deposit products, such as checking, savings, money market, demand, and time deposits; certificates of deposit; retirement accounts; and safe deposit boxes.