11,865 Shares in Banc of California, Inc. (NYSE:BANC) Purchased by Inceptionr LLC

Inceptionr LLC bought a new position in shares of Banc of California, Inc. (NYSE:BANC) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund bought 11,865 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $183,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. PL Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 43,730,207 shares during the period. Basswood Capital Management L.L.C. increased 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. Wellington Management Group LLP acquired a new position in shares of Banc of California in the third quarter valued at approximately $21,207,000. Verition Fund Management LLC increased its position in 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 purchasing an additional 1,194,839 shares during the period. Finally, Azora Capital LP acquired a new stake in Banc of California during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $12,494,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.88% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on BANC. JPMorgan Chase & Co. began coverage on shares of Banc of California in a research report on Friday, February 7th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $18.00 target price for the company. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Banc of California from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the company from $17.00 to $20.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. StockNews.com raised shares of Banc of California from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on Banc of California from $17.50 to $20.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Raymond James increased 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. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $18.18.

Banc of California Price Performance

Shares of BANC opened at $12.97 on Tuesday. Banc of California, Inc. has a 12-month low of $11.88 and a 12-month high of $18.08. The business’s fifty day moving average is $15.49 and its 200 day moving average is $15.43. The company has a quick ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The stock has a market cap of $2.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.15 and a beta of 1.18.

Banc of California (NYSE:BANC) last issued its earnings results 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 return on equity of 6.20% and a net margin of 7.06%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Banc of California, Inc. will post 1.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Banc of California Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.09%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Banc of California’s dividend payout ratio is currently 71.43%.

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.