Banc of California, Inc. (NYSE:BANC) Stock Rated "Moderate Buy" by Wall Street Brokerages

Key Points

• Banc of California carries a “Moderate Buy” consensus rating from 11 brokerages, with seven buys, three holds and one strong buy. The average 12-month price target is $20.78 versus the stock’s reported $17.50 price.
• The bank reported a significant quarterly loss of $1.61 per share, missing the $0.40 consensus estimate, while revenue fell 94% year over year to $16.41 million.
• Institutional investors own 86.88% of the company, with BlackRock taking a new stake and Wellington increasing its holdings by 147.2%. Two insiders recently sold shares, while the company maintains a quarterly dividend of $0.12 per share, yielding about 2.7%.

Banc of California, Inc. (NYSE:BANC - Get Free Report) has been given an average rating of "Moderate Buy" by the eleven brokerages that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $20.78.

Several research firms have weighed in on BANC. UBS Group assumed coverage on shares of Banc of California in a research report on Monday, September 14th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $20.00 price objective for the company. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Banc of California from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "hold (c-)" rating in a research note on Friday, August 21st. Barclays set a $10.00 price target on shares of Banc of California in a report on Tuesday, September 15th. Brean Capital cut shares of Banc of California from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on Banc of California from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, General Counsel Ido Dotan sold 10,541 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.30, for a total transaction of $192,900.30. Following the transaction, the general counsel owned 45,702 shares of the company's stock, valued at $836,346.60. This represents a 18.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Olivia Lindsay sold 6,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.50, for a total value of $117,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 32,842 shares in the company, valued at approximately $640,419. This represents a 15.45% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders own 2.78% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Banc of California

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Banc of California in the second quarter valued at approximately $462,252,000. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in shares of Banc of California by 147.2% in the 2nd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 6,121,876 shares of the bank's stock valued at $125,070,000 after acquiring an additional 3,645,579 shares in the last quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Banc of California in the 2nd quarter valued at about $25,521,000. Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new stake in shares of Banc of California in the second quarter valued at about $22,404,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Banc of California in the second quarter valued at about $22,019,000. Institutional investors own 86.88% of the company's stock.

Banc of California Price Performance

Shares of BANC stock opened at $17.50 on Friday. Banc of California has a 52 week low of $15.33 and a 52 week high of $21.93. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.77 billion, a PE ratio of -41.66 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 0.89. The stock's fifty day moving average is $18.80 and its 200-day moving average is $19.01.

Banc of California (NYSE:BANC - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The bank reported ($1.61) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.40 by ($2.01). The business had revenue of $16.41 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $295.32 million. Banc of California had a negative net margin of 1.44% and a positive return on equity of 7.98%. The business's quarterly revenue was down 94.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.31 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Banc of California will post 1.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Banc of California Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 15th were given a dividend of $0.12 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 15th. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.7%. Banc of California's payout ratio is presently -114.29%.

About Banc of California

Banc of California, Inc is a bank holding company whose principal subsidiary, Banc of California, N.A., provides banking and financial services to businesses, professionals and individuals. The bank serves customers primarily through branches and digital banking channels in California and selected markets.

Its products and services include commercial and consumer lending, commercial real estate financing, residential mortgage lending, deposit accounts, treasury management, cash management and online banking.

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