South Dakota Investment Council Raises Stake in Banc of California, Inc. (NYSE:BANC)

South Dakota Investment Council lifted its stake in Banc of California, Inc. (NYSE:BANC) by 238.8% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 571,063 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 402,498 shares during the quarter. South Dakota Investment Council’s holdings in Banc of California were worth $7,669,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BANC. Crescent Grove Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Banc of California during the 4th quarter valued at $1,303,000. New York State Teachers Retirement System boosted its holdings in shares of Banc of California by 510.7% during the fourth quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 79,808 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,072,000 after purchasing an additional 66,739 shares during the last quarter. Peregrine Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Banc of California by 22.2% in the fourth quarter. Peregrine Capital Management LLC now owns 628,950 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $8,447,000 after purchasing an additional 114,173 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Banc of California during the fourth quarter worth about $1,488,000. Finally, JCSD Capital LLC boosted its stake in Banc of California by 76.0% in the 4th quarter. JCSD Capital LLC now owns 243,117 shares of the bank’s stock worth $3,265,000 after buying an additional 105,000 shares during the last quarter. 86.88% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Banc of California

In other news, Director James Andrew Barker acquired 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 14th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $13.16 per share, with a total value of $131,600.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 159,680 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,101,388.80. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 7.37% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BANC has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Truist Financial reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $16.00 target price on shares of Banc of California in a research report on Monday, April 1st. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Banc of California from $14.00 to $16.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Wedbush dropped their price target on Banc of California from $16.00 to $15.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Banc of California in a research note on Monday, January 29th. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised Banc of California from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $16.00 to $18.00 in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $16.79.

Banc of California Price Performance

Shares of BANC traded up $0.06 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $14.01. The stock had a trading volume of 2,749,035 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,462,702. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $14.49 and its 200-day moving average price is $13.32. Banc of California, Inc. has a 52 week low of $9.72 and a 52 week high of $16.08. The company has a market capitalization of $2.20 billion, a P/E ratio of -4.34 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.89.

Banc of California (NYSE:BANC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The bank reported $0.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.26 by ($0.07). Banc of California had a positive return on equity of 1.14% and a negative net margin of 44.04%. The business had revenue of $522.57 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $296.02 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.37 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Banc of California, Inc. will post 1.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Banc of California Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.86%. Banc of California’s payout ratio is presently -12.66%.

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.