Banc of California, Inc. (NYSE:BANC) Short Interest Up 7.9% in January

Banc of California, Inc. (NYSE:BANC) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest in the month of January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 10,990,000 shares, a growth of 7.9% from the January 15th total of 10,190,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 2,030,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 5.4 days.

Banc of California Stock Up 1.9 %

Shares of NYSE BANC traded up $0.30 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $15.91. The stock had a trading volume of 2,062,098 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,851,568. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $15.90 and a two-hundred day moving average of $15.30. The company has a market capitalization of $2.53 billion, a PE ratio of 28.40 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 has a 12 month low of $11.88 and a 12 month high of $18.08.

Banc of California (NYSE:BANC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 23rd. The bank reported $0.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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, equities research analysts forecast that Banc of California will post 1.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Banc of California Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Banc of California’s payout ratio is 71.43%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. PL Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Banc of California by 1,446.0% in the fourth 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 during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in Banc of California by 274.6% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 5,393,076 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $83,377,000 after purchasing an additional 3,953,380 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC increased its position in Banc of California by 2,119.0% in the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 2,876,914 shares of the bank’s stock worth $44,477,000 after buying an additional 2,747,262 shares during the last quarter. Basswood Capital Management L.L.C. raised its stake in shares of Banc of California by 589.8% in the third quarter. Basswood Capital Management L.L.C. now owns 1,732,894 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $25,526,000 after buying an additional 1,481,692 shares during the period. Finally, Verition Fund Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Banc of California by 93.2% during the 3rd quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 2,476,387 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $36,477,000 after buying an additional 1,194,839 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.88% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently commented on BANC. Wells Fargo & Company raised Banc of California from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $17.00 to $20.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Raymond James boosted their price objective on Banc of California from $17.00 to $18.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Stephens lowered 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. DA Davidson lifted their price target on shares of Banc of California from $16.50 to $19.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on shares of Banc of California from $17.50 to $20.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $18.18.

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.