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

Shares of Banc of California, Inc. (NYSE:BANC) have received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eleven research firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $18.18.

BANC has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on shares of Banc of California from $17.50 to $20.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. DA Davidson lifted their price objective on shares of Banc of California from $16.50 to $19.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Stephens dropped their price objective on shares of Banc of California from $18.00 to $17.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Raymond James lifted their price objective on shares of Banc of California from $17.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Banc of California from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $17.00 to $20.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th.

Banc of California Trading Down 1.8 %

BANC stock opened at $15.59 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $15.92 and a 200 day moving average price of $15.27. Banc of California has a fifty-two week low of $11.88 and a fifty-two week high of $18.08. 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 firm has a market cap of $2.48 billion, a PE ratio of 27.84 and a beta of 1.14.

Banc of California (NYSE:BANC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 23rd. The bank reported $0.28 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.23 by $0.05. Banc of California had a net margin of 7.06% and a return on equity of 6.20%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Banc of California will post 1.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Banc of California Dividend Announcement

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

Institutional Trading of Banc of California

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Marshall Wace LLP bought a new position in Banc of California in the second quarter worth about $166,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its holdings in Banc of California by 2.6% in the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 77,384 shares of the bank’s stock worth $989,000 after purchasing an additional 1,939 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in Banc of California by 32.3% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,005 shares of the bank’s stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 734 shares in the last quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in Banc of California by 47.7% in the third quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc. now owns 19,671 shares of the bank’s stock worth $290,000 after purchasing an additional 6,350 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in Banc of California by 461.6% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 651,695 shares of the bank’s stock worth $9,599,000 after purchasing an additional 535,654 shares in the last quarter. 86.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Banc of California

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.