Brokerages Set Banc of California, Inc. (NYSE:BANC) Price Target at $18.18

Shares of Banc of California, Inc. (NYSE:BANC) have received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eleven research firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $18.18.

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Banc of California

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. PL Capital Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Banc of California by 1,446.0% during the fourth quarter. PL Capital Advisors LLC now owns 46,754,426 shares of the bank’s stock worth $722,823,000 after purchasing an additional 43,730,207 shares in the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Banc of California by 6.3% during the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,913,012 shares of the bank’s stock worth $168,716,000 after buying an additional 644,330 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in Banc of California by 274.6% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 5,393,076 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $83,377,000 after buying an additional 3,953,380 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC raised 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 buying an additional 2,747,262 shares during the last quarter. Finally, William Blair Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings 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 worth $39,525,000 after acquiring an additional 62,269 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.88% of the company’s stock.

Banc of California Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE BANC opened at $14.15 on Monday. Banc of California has a fifty-two week low of $11.88 and a fifty-two week high of $18.08. 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 company has a market cap of $2.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.27 and a beta of 1.18. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $14.97 and its 200-day moving average price is $15.42.

Banc of California (NYSE:BANC) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The bank reported $0.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.23 by $0.05. Banc of California had a net margin of 7.06% and a return on equity of 6.20%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Banc of California will post 1.31 earnings per share for the current year.

Banc of California Dividend Announcement

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