Banc of California (NYSE:BANC) Upgraded to Hold at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Banc of California (NYSE:BANC) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research note released on Friday.

BANC has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Banc of California from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the company from $17.00 to $20.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Stephens upped their target price on shares of Banc of California from $15.00 to $16.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Wedbush upped their target price 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. Raymond James upped their target price on shares of Banc of California from $17.00 to $18.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Citigroup initiated coverage on shares of Banc of California in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $15.00 price objective on the stock. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $18.10.

Banc of California Trading Up 1.9 %

Shares of BANC opened at $16.00 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $16.17 and a two-hundred day moving average of $15.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 0.89. The company has a market capitalization of $2.54 billion, a PE ratio of -3.75 and a beta of 1.14. Banc of California has a fifty-two week low of $11.88 and a fifty-two week high of $18.08.

Banc of California (NYSE:BANC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 23rd. The bank reported $0.28 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.23 by $0.05. Banc of California had a negative net margin of 20.75% and a positive return on equity of 2.93%. As a group, analysts forecast that Banc of California will post 0.71 EPS for the current year.

Banc of California Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th were paid a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.50%. Banc of California’s payout ratio is currently 71.43%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Banc of California

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in BANC. Basswood Capital Management L.L.C. increased its stake in shares of Banc of California by 589.8% in the third quarter. Basswood Capital Management L.L.C. now owns 1,732,894 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $25,526,000 after purchasing an additional 1,481,692 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Banc of California in the third quarter valued at approximately $21,207,000. Verition Fund Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Banc of California by 93.2% in the third quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 2,476,387 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $36,477,000 after purchasing an additional 1,194,839 shares during the period. Azora Capital LP acquired a new stake in shares of Banc of California in the third quarter valued at approximately $12,494,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in shares of Banc of California by 461.6% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 651,695 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $9,599,000 after acquiring an additional 535,654 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.88% of the company’s stock.

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.