Banc of California’s Stock Rating Elevates to 'Hold' by StockNews.com

Banc of California, Inc., operating under the stock ticker BANC, has received an upgrade in its stock rating by analysts at StockNews.com. The financial institution saw its rating shift from a “sell” to a “hold” status in an announcement made on November 12th, 2023.

Multiple Analyses Lead to a Rating Upgrade

The change comes following several other reports on BANC. Notably, DA Davidson increased their price target on the stock from $17.50 to $21.50 earlier in the year. Contrasting these positive outlooks, Wells Fargo & Company adjusted their rating from “overweight” to “equal weight” and cut their target price from $21.00 to $13.50. In similar diminishing sentiment, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods downgraded Banc of California from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating, placing a target price on the stock at $16.00.

Financial Performance Indicators

The stock for BANC opened at $11.31 on the date the rating was upgraded. Banc of California holds a market capitalization of approximately $649.53 million, a P/E ratio of 6.46, and a beta of 1.24. The 52-week range for the stock has been between $9.72 and $18.26. In terms of liquidity, the bank presents a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 1.05, and a current ratio of 0.90. It is also noteworthy that the company’s moving averages span at $12.06 for fifty days and $12.09 for two hundred days.

For its last reported quarter on October 24th, BANC posted earnings of $0.30 per share, narrowly beating the consensus estimate by $0.01. With quarterly revenue reaching $120.00 million against the expectations of $76.84 million, Banc of California demonstrated a marked performance increase compared to the prior year's earnings of $0.44 per share. Analysts project an EPS of 0.94 for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Involvements

Institutional investors have recently adjusted their holdings in BANC. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC, for instance, expanded its position by 34.6% during the 2nd quarter. Other significant moves include Quantbot Technologies LP increasing their stake by 158.3% and Captrust Financial Advisors enlarging their holdings by 63.5%. New stakes were also initiated, such as by Point72 Middle East FZE and Black Maple Capital Management LP, signaling a solid interest from the investment community with an 88.55% ownership by institutional investors.

About Banc of California

Banc of California, headquartered in Santa Ana, California, serves as the bank holding company for Banc of California, the National Association. The company delivers a comprehensive range of banking and financial products and services, including diverse deposit accounts, certificates of deposits, retirement options, and safe deposit boxes in the United States.

Banking, Investment, Finance