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

Banc of California, Inc. (NYSE:BANC) has received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eleven research firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and seven have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $17.09.

BANC has been the topic of several analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Banc of California from $16.00 to $15.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Stephens reiterated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $15.00 target price on shares of Banc of California in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Barclays lowered their price target on Banc of California from $19.00 to $18.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. StockNews.com raised Banc of California from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Raymond James boosted their target price on Banc of California from $17.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director James Andrew Barker acquired 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 29th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $13.16 per share, with a total value of $131,600.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 169,680 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,232,988.80. The trade was a 6.26% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 2.69% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Barclays PLC lifted its stake in Banc of California by 4.4% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 425,634 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $6,270,000 after purchasing an additional 17,876 shares during the last quarter. Oliver Luxxe Assets LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Banc of California during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,323,000. Crescent Grove Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Banc of California by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Crescent Grove Advisors LLC now owns 99,084 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,542,000 after buying an additional 664 shares during the period. KBC Group NV raised its holdings in Banc of California by 71.0% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 7,286 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $113,000 after buying an additional 3,026 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sippican Capital Advisors grew its holdings in Banc of California by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Sippican Capital Advisors now owns 123,667 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,912,000 after acquiring an additional 2,057 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.88% of the company’s stock.

Banc of California Price Performance

NYSE:BANC opened at $14.37 on Tuesday. Banc of California has a 52-week low of $11.52 and a 52-week high of $18.08. The company has a market cap of $2.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.66 and a beta of 0.69. 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 $13.59 and its 200 day simple moving average is $15.06.

Banc of California (NYSE:BANC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The bank reported $0.26 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.24 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $266.01 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $272.36 million. Banc of California had a return on equity of 6.20% and a net margin of 7.06%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.19 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Banc of California will post 1.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Banc of California Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Investors of record on Monday, June 16th will be paid a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 16th. Banc of California’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 61.54%.

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.