Banc of California, Inc. (NYSE:BANC) Given Average Rating of "Moderate Buy" by Brokerages

Shares of Banc of California, Inc. (NYSE:BANC - Get Free Report) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the eleven research firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and seven have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $18.18.

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on BANC shares. StockNews.com raised shares of Banc of California from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Banc of California from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $17.00 to $20.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Stephens decreased 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 report on Monday, January 27th. 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 report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Banc of California from $20.00 to $19.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 24th.

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Banc of California Stock Down 0.1 %

BANC stock traded down $0.02 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $13.81. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,742,507 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,950,550. The company has a quick ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. Banc of California has a 52-week low of $11.88 and a 52-week high of $18.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.65 and a beta of 1.18. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $15.54 and a 200-day simple moving average of $15.43.

Banc of California (NYSE:BANC - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The bank reported $0.28 EPS 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 analysts forecast that Banc of California will post 1.31 EPS for the current year.

Banc of California Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.90%. Banc of California's dividend payout ratio is presently 71.43%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. PL Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake 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 valued at $722,823,000 after purchasing an additional 43,730,207 shares during the period. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Banc of California by 6.3% in the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,913,012 shares of the bank's stock valued at $168,716,000 after purchasing an additional 644,330 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in Banc of California by 274.6% in the fourth 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 period. Millennium Management LLC increased its stake in Banc of California by 2,119.0% in the fourth 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 period. Finally, William Blair Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Banc of California by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 2,556,614 shares of the bank's stock valued at $39,525,000 after purchasing an additional 62,269 shares during the period. 86.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.