Banc of California, Inc. (NYSE:BANC) Receives $18.18 Consensus Target Price from Brokerages

Banc of California, Inc. (NYSE:BANC) has been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eleven ratings firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and seven have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $18.18.

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. assumed coverage on shares of Banc of California in a report on Friday, February 7th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $18.00 target price for the company. Barclays dropped their price objective on Banc of California from $20.00 to $19.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Stephens decreased their target price on Banc of California from $18.00 to $17.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 27th. StockNews.com upgraded Banc of California from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Banc of California from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $17.00 to $20.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th.

Institutional Trading of Banc of California

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. PL Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in Banc of California by 1,446.0% in the fourth quarter. PL Capital Advisors LLC now owns 46,754,426 shares of the bank’s stock worth $722,823,000 after acquiring an additional 43,730,207 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in shares of Banc of California by 274.6% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 5,393,076 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $83,377,000 after purchasing an additional 3,953,380 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC increased its position in shares of Banc of California by 2,119.0% during the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 2,876,914 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $44,477,000 after purchasing an additional 2,747,262 shares during the last quarter. Basswood Capital Management L.L.C. lifted its position in Banc of California by 589.8% in the third quarter. Basswood Capital Management L.L.C. now owns 1,732,894 shares of the bank’s stock worth $25,526,000 after buying an additional 1,481,692 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Azora Capital LP purchased a new position in Banc of California during the third quarter worth $12,494,000. 86.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Banc of California Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE:BANC opened at $14.15 on Monday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $14.97 and a 200 day moving average of $15.42. The company has a market cap of $2.25 billion, a PE ratio of 25.27 and a beta of 1.18. Banc of California has a 12-month low of $11.88 and a 12-month high of $18.08. The company has a current ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

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, beating 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%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Banc of California will post 1.31 EPS for the current year.

Banc of California Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.83%. Banc of California’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 71.43%.

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.