Los Angeles Capital Management LLC Makes New Investment in Banc of California, Inc. (NYSE:BANC)

Los Angeles Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Banc of California, Inc. (NYSE:BANC) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 44,195 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $672,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of BANC. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Banc of California by 5.8% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 438,007 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $5,423,000 after acquiring an additional 24,098 shares during the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Banc of California during the 3rd quarter worth $145,000. Natixis Advisors L.P. purchased a new position in shares of Banc of California during the 3rd quarter worth $270,000. One Fin Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Banc of California during the 3rd quarter worth about $5,132,000. Finally, Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC lifted its position in Banc of California by 140.4% in the third quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC now owns 68,753 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $851,000 after buying an additional 40,153 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.88% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have weighed in on BANC. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded Banc of California from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $16.00 to $18.00 in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Wedbush cut their price objective on Banc of California from $16.00 to $15.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. StockNews.com upgraded Banc of California to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, Barclays cut their price target on shares of Banc of California from $16.00 to $15.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $16.31.

Banc of California Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BANC opened at $12.79 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.89. The company has a market cap of $2.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.84 and a beta of 1.15. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $13.77 and its two-hundred day moving average is $13.85. Banc of California, Inc. has a 1-year low of $9.96 and a 1-year high of $16.08.

Banc of California (NYSE:BANC) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The bank reported $0.19 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.26 by ($0.07). Banc of California had a positive return on equity of 2.25% and a negative net margin of 29.10%. The firm had revenue of $522.57 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $296.02 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.37 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Banc of California, Inc. will post 1.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Banc of California Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be given a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 14th. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.13%. Banc of California’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -12.01%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Banc of California news, CEO Jared M. Wolff purchased 7,130 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 25th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $13.98 per share, for a total transaction of $99,677.40. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 268,695 shares in the company, valued at $3,756,356.10. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 7.37% of the company’s stock.

Banc of California 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.