Banc of California, Inc. (NYSE:BANC) Short Interest Update

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Banc of California

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BANC. Everence Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Banc of California by 47.7% in the 3rd quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc. now owns 19,671 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $290,000 after buying an additional 6,350 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in shares of Banc of California by 461.6% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 651,695 shares of the bank’s stock worth $9,599,000 after purchasing an additional 535,654 shares during the last quarter. Tectonic Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Banc of California by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. Tectonic Advisors LLC now owns 120,574 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,776,000 after purchasing an additional 3,059 shares in the last quarter. Sippican Capital Advisors lifted its stake in shares of Banc of California by 7.5% in the 3rd quarter. Sippican Capital Advisors now owns 121,610 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,791,000 after purchasing an additional 8,475 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Crescent Grove Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Banc of California by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Crescent Grove Advisors LLC now owns 98,420 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,460,000 after purchasing an additional 772 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 research analysts recently commented on BANC shares. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Banc of California from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Wedbush lifted their price target on Banc of California from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. DA Davidson raised their target price on Banc of California from $16.50 to $19.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Banc of California from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $17.00 to $20.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Banc of California from $20.00 to $19.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $18.18.

Banc of California Trading Up 1.9 %

Shares of BANC traded up $0.30 during midday 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 business has a 50-day simple moving average of $15.88 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $15.32. The firm has a market cap of $2.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.40 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a current ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. Banc of California has a fifty-two week low of $11.88 and a fifty-two week high of $18.08.

Banc of California (NYSE:BANC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 23rd. The bank reported $0.28 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%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Banc of California will post 1.33 EPS for the current year.

Banc of California Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed 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 yield of 2.51%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Banc of California’s payout ratio is presently 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.