Banc of California, Inc. (NYSE:BANC) Shares Sold by Commonwealth Equity Services LLC

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC trimmed its holdings in Banc of California, Inc. (NYSE:BANC) by 16.6% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 22,114 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 4,406 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC’s holdings in Banc of California were worth $342,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Banc of California during the 4th quarter worth about $36,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its position in Banc of California by 35.1% during the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 3,574 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $55,000 after acquiring an additional 928 shares during the period. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Banc of California by 205.8% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 4,348 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $68,000 after buying an additional 2,926 shares during the period. KBC Group NV lifted its position in Banc of California by 71.0% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 7,286 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $113,000 after buying an additional 3,026 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AlphaQuest LLC purchased a new position in shares of Banc of California in the 4th quarter valued at $135,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.88% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on BANC. JPMorgan Chase & Co. assumed coverage on Banc of California in a report on Friday, February 7th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $18.00 price target for the company. Raymond James upped their price target on Banc of California from $17.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Banc of California from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Banc of California from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the company from $17.00 to $20.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Banc of California from $20.00 to $19.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note 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 data from MarketBeat.com, Banc of California has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $18.18.

Banc of California Stock Performance

Shares of Banc of California stock opened at $12.11 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $1.92 billion, a PE ratio of 21.62 and a beta of 0.85. Banc of California, Inc. has a 1 year low of $11.70 and a 1 year high of $18.08. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $14.76 and its 200-day simple moving average is $15.38. 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 (NYSE:BANC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The bank reported $0.28 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.23 by $0.05. Banc of California had a return on equity of 6.20% and a net margin of 7.06%. Equities analysts forecast that Banc of California, Inc. will post 1.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Banc of California Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.30%. Banc of California’s payout ratio is currently 71.43%.

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.