Proficio Capital Partners LLC Makes New Investment in Banc of California, Inc. (NYSE:BANC)

Proficio Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Banc of California, Inc. (NYSE:BANC) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 23,314 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $360,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. PL Capital Advisors LLC boosted its holdings 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. Verition Fund Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Banc of California by 93.2% in the 3rd quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 2,476,387 shares of the bank’s stock worth $36,477,000 after purchasing an additional 1,194,839 shares during the period. Hodges Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Banc of California by 10.7% in the 4th quarter. Hodges Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,281,410 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $35,270,000 after purchasing an additional 221,125 shares during the last quarter. Basswood Capital Management L.L.C. increased its position in shares of Banc of California by 589.8% during the third quarter. Basswood Capital Management L.L.C. now owns 1,732,894 shares of the bank’s stock worth $25,526,000 after buying an additional 1,481,692 shares during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP bought a new position in Banc of California during the third quarter worth $21,207,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.88% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have weighed in on BANC shares. StockNews.com upgraded Banc of California from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on Banc of California from $17.50 to $20.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Wells Fargo & Company raised Banc of California from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $17.00 to $20.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. 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. Finally, Raymond James boosted their target price on shares of Banc of California from $17.00 to $18.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $18.18.

Banc of California Trading Down 1.2 %

NYSE BANC opened at $14.55 on Wednesday. Banc of California, Inc. has a 12 month low of $11.88 and a 12 month high of $18.08. The company has a current ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.98 and a beta of 1.18. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $15.18 and a 200 day simple moving average of $15.42.

Banc of California (NYSE:BANC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 23rd. The bank reported $0.28 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.23 by $0.05. Banc of California had a net margin of 7.06% and a return on equity of 6.20%. On average, analysts predict that Banc of California, Inc. will post 1.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Banc of California Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.75%. Banc of California’s 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.