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

Banc of California, Inc. (NYSE:BANC) has received an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eleven ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, eight have given a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $18.70.

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on BANC shares. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Banc of California in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Banc of California from $18.00 to $20.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Banc of California from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $17.00 to $20.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st. Raymond James Financial raised Banc of California from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 7th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $18.00 price objective (up from $17.00) on shares of Banc of California in a research report on Friday, July 25th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Banc of California

In related news, insider Hamid Hussain sold 20,000 shares of Banc of California stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.59, for a total value of $331,800.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 66,444 shares in the company, valued at $1,102,305.96. The trade was a 23.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 2.69% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Banc of California

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Banc of California by 2.7% in the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 686,067 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $9,735,000 after buying an additional 17,990 shares in the last quarter. Centerbridge Partners L.P. boosted its stake in shares of Banc of California by 18.7% in the first quarter. Centerbridge Partners L.P. now owns 4,771,784 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $67,712,000 after buying an additional 752,239 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of Banc of California by 22.2% in the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,201 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $59,000 after buying an additional 762 shares in the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC boosted its stake in shares of Banc of California by 111.4% in the first quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 177,344 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,503,000 after buying an additional 93,454 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Banc of California by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,575,301 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $135,874,000 after purchasing an additional 50,452 shares in the last quarter. 86.88% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Banc of California Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BANC opened at $16.78 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $16.62 and its two-hundred day moving average is $14.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.88. Banc of California has a 1-year low of $11.52 and a 1-year high of $18.24. The company has a market cap of $2.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.82 and a beta of 0.68.

Banc of California (NYSE:BANC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 13th. The bank reported $1.03 earnings per share for the quarter. Banc of California had a return on equity of 7.37% and a net margin of 8.30%.The company had revenue of $315.66 million for the quarter. Analysts forecast that Banc of California will post 1.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Banc of California Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 15th were issued a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 15th. Banc of California’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 61.54%.

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.