Banc of California’s (BANC) Equal Weight Rating Reaffirmed at Stephens

Stephens reaffirmed their equal weight rating on shares of Banc of California (NYSE:BANC) in a research report released on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a $16.00 price objective on the bank’s stock.

Several other equities analysts also recently commented on BANC. StockNews.com assumed coverage on Banc of California in a research report on Monday, January 29th. They issued a hold rating for the company. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Banc of California from $14.00 to $16.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Wedbush decreased their price target on Banc of California from $16.00 to $15.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised Banc of California from a market perform rating to an outperform rating and increased their price target for the company from $16.00 to $18.00 in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, Barclays decreased their price target on Banc of California from $16.00 to $15.00 and set an equal weight rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Banc of California has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $16.64.

Banc of California Price Performance

Shares of BANC stock opened at $14.32 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. Banc of California has a twelve month low of $9.72 and a twelve month high of $16.08. The company has a market cap of $2.25 billion, a P/E ratio of -4.30 and a beta of 1.15. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $14.49 and a 200 day simple moving average of $13.35.

Banc of California (NYSE:BANC) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The bank reported $0.19 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.26 by ($0.07). The firm had revenue of $522.57 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $296.02 million. Banc of California had a negative net margin of 29.10% and a positive return on equity of 2.25%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.37 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Banc of California will post 1.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Banc of California Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.79%. Banc of California’s dividend payout ratio is currently -12.01%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Banc of California news, CEO Jared M. Wolff bought 7,130 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 25th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $13.98 per share, with a total value of $99,677.40. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 268,695 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,756,356.10. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Jared M. Wolff acquired 7,130 shares of Banc of California stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 25th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $13.98 per share, with a total value of $99,677.40. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 268,695 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,756,356.10. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director James Andrew Barker acquired 10,000 shares of Banc of California stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 14th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $13.16 per share, with a total value of $131,600.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 159,680 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,101,388.80. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders acquired 27,130 shares of company stock valued at $445,277 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 7.37% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Banc of California

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BANC. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Banc of California by 143.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,014,810 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $121,069,000 after acquiring an additional 5,311,842 shares during the period. Bayview Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Banc of California in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,297,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Banc of California by 148.6% in the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,997,802 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $40,260,000 after purchasing an additional 1,791,992 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its holdings in shares of Banc of California by 345.6% in the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,291,541 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $30,775,000 after purchasing an additional 1,777,330 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Banc of California by 49.9% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,853,903 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $65,191,000 after purchasing an additional 1,615,478 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.88% of the company’s stock.

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.