PL Capital Advisors LLC Boosts Stake in Banc of California, Inc. (NYSE:BANC)

PL Capital Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Banc of California, Inc. (NYSE:BANC) by 1,446.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 46,754,426 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 43,730,207 shares during the quarter. Banc of California accounts for approximately 8.5% of PL Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 4th biggest position. PL Capital Advisors LLC owned about 0.29% of Banc of California worth $722,823,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in BANC. Crescent Grove Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Banc of California by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Crescent Grove Advisors LLC now owns 99,084 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,542,000 after purchasing an additional 664 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc grew its holdings in shares of Banc of California by 4.8% in the fourth quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 15,052 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $233,000 after purchasing an additional 683 shares in the last quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Banc of California by 4.5% in the 3rd quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 18,082 shares of the bank’s stock worth $266,000 after buying an additional 779 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Banc of California by 5.8% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 20,659 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $304,000 after buying an additional 1,126 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sippican Capital Advisors raised its position in shares of Banc of California by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Sippican Capital Advisors now owns 123,667 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,912,000 after buying an additional 2,057 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.88% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on BANC. Raymond James boosted their price objective on Banc of California from $17.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Barclays cut their target price on Banc of California from $20.00 to $19.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. assumed coverage on Banc of California in a research report on Friday, February 7th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $18.00 price target for the company. Stephens cut their price objective on shares of 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. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Banc of California from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Banc of California presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $18.18.

Banc of California Trading Up 0.6 %

BANC stock opened at $14.75 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.34 billion, a PE ratio of 26.33 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.89. Banc of California, Inc. has a 12 month low of $11.88 and a 12 month high of $18.08. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $15.72 and its 200 day moving average is $15.40.

Banc of California (NYSE:BANC) last posted its quarterly 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%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Banc of California, Inc. will post 1.31 EPS for the current year.

Banc of California Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.71%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Banc of California’s dividend payout ratio is 71.43%.

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.