Sheets Smith Investment Management Buys New Position in Banc of California, Inc. $BANC

Sheets Smith Investment Management bought a new stake in shares of Banc of California, Inc. (NYSE:BANC) in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor bought 79,250 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $1,312,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Banc of California by 18.6% during the 1st quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 12,942,131 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $183,649,000 after acquiring an additional 2,029,119 shares during the period. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. purchased a new position in Banc of California during the second quarter valued at $17,400,000. FJ Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Banc of California by 265.8% during the second quarter. FJ Capital Management LLC now owns 1,365,440 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $19,184,000 after purchasing an additional 992,154 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in Banc of California by 21.5% in the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,410,938 shares of the bank’s stock worth $76,024,000 after buying an additional 957,693 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in shares of Banc of California by 16.5% in the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 6,280,573 shares of the bank’s stock worth $89,121,000 after buying an additional 887,497 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.88% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Banc of California from $18.00 to $20.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 29th. Citigroup raised shares of Banc of California from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $18.00 to $21.50 in a report on Monday, October 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Banc of California from $21.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Raymond James Financial upgraded shares of Banc of California from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 7th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Banc of California in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $19.55.

Banc of California Price Performance

Banc of California stock opened at $19.77 on Friday. Banc of California, Inc. has a 52-week low of $11.52 and a 52-week high of $20.17. The company has a quick ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $17.74 and its 200 day moving average is $16.20. The company has a market cap of $2.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.00 and a beta of 0.72.

Banc of California (NYSE:BANC) last posted its earnings results on Monday, May 13th. The bank reported $1.03 earnings per share for the quarter. The firm had revenue of $315.66 million for the quarter. Banc of California had a net margin of 11.49% and a return on equity of 8.00%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Banc of California, Inc. will post 1.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Banc of California Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 2nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 15th will be given a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 15th. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.0%. Banc of California’s dividend payout ratio is 38.46%.

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.