Banc of California, Inc. (NYSE:BANC) Given Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Banc of California, Inc. (NYSE:BANC) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the ten brokerages that are covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and six have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $17.30.

A number of brokerages have commented on BANC. Wedbush boosted their price target on shares of Banc of California from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Barclays raised shares of Banc of California from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $17.00 to $18.00 in a research report on Thursday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on shares of Banc of California from $18.00 to $17.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Banc of California from $16.00 to $17.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Truist Financial increased their price objective on Banc of California from $15.00 to $16.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Richard J. Lashley sold 75,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $14.00, for a total transaction of $1,050,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 719,826 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,077,564. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 7.37% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Banc of California

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of BANC. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Banc of California by 17.6% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,597,751 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $161,192,000 after acquiring an additional 1,582,941 shares during the period. Sei Investments Co. raised its position in shares of Banc of California by 86.0% in the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 506,202 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $7,699,000 after purchasing an additional 234,021 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its stake in shares of Banc of California by 55.5% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 185,329 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,819,000 after buying an additional 66,183 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in Banc of California by 394.1% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 331,076 shares of the bank’s stock worth $5,037,000 after buying an additional 264,070 shares during the period. Finally, Redwood Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Banc of California in the 1st quarter worth approximately $630,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.88% of the company’s stock.

Banc of California Stock Performance

Shares of BANC opened at $15.37 on Friday. Banc of California has a one year low of $10.81 and a one year high of $16.01. The company has a market cap of $2.44 billion, a PE ratio of -3.60 and a beta of 1.14. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $14.56 and a 200-day moving average of $13.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.83.

Banc of California (NYSE:BANC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The bank reported $0.25 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.14 by $0.11. Banc of California had a positive return on equity of 2.93% and a negative net margin of 20.75%. The firm had revenue of $431.44 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $229.46 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.30 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Banc of California will post 0.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Banc of California Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were paid a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.60%. Banc of California’s payout ratio is presently -9.37%.

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.