Banc of California (NYSE:BANC) Now Covered by JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co. assumed coverage on shares of Banc of California (NYSE:BANC) in a research note issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm set a “neutral” rating and a $18.00 price target on the bank’s stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co.‘s price objective points to a potential upside of 8.93% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other brokerages have also issued reports on BANC. Stephens dropped their target price on 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. Raymond James lifted their price objective on Banc of California from $17.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Citigroup began coverage on Banc of California in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $15.00 target price for the company. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Banc of California from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $17.00 to $20.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Wedbush raised their price objective on shares of Banc of California from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $18.18.

Banc of California Stock Performance

Banc of California stock opened at $16.52 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 0.90. Banc of California has a one year low of $11.88 and a one year high of $18.08. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $16.05 and its 200 day moving average price is $15.17. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.62 billion, a PE ratio of 29.51 and a beta of 1.14.

Banc of California (NYSE:BANC) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The bank reported $0.28 earnings per share 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, sell-side analysts expect that Banc of California will post 1.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. PL Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in Banc of California by 1,446.0% during the 4th quarter. PL Capital Advisors LLC now owns 46,754,426 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $722,823,000 after acquiring an additional 43,730,207 shares in the last quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC raised its holdings in Banc of California by 93.2% during the third quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 2,476,387 shares of the bank’s stock worth $36,477,000 after purchasing an additional 1,194,839 shares in the last quarter. Hodges Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in Banc of California by 10.7% during the fourth quarter. Hodges Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,281,410 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $35,270,000 after buying an additional 221,125 shares in the last quarter. Basswood Capital Management L.L.C. grew its stake in shares of Banc of California by 589.8% in the 3rd quarter. Basswood Capital Management L.L.C. now owns 1,732,894 shares of the bank’s stock worth $25,526,000 after purchasing an additional 1,481,692 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Banc of California during the 3rd quarter valued at $21,207,000. Institutional investors 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.