Proficio Capital Partners LLC Invests $360,000 in Banc of California, Inc. (NYSE:BANC)

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

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in BANC. PL Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Banc of California by 1,446.0% during the 4th quarter. PL Capital Advisors LLC now owns 46,754,426 shares of the bank’s stock worth $722,823,000 after purchasing an additional 43,730,207 shares in the last quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Banc of California by 93.2% in the third quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 2,476,387 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $36,477,000 after buying 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 fourth quarter. Hodges Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,281,410 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $35,270,000 after buying an additional 221,125 shares during the period. Basswood Capital Management L.L.C. grew its position in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP bought a new position in Banc of California during the 3rd quarter worth $21,207,000. 86.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Stephens cut their target price on Banc of California from $18.00 to $17.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of Banc of California from $17.50 to $20.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Banc of California from $20.00 to $19.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 24th. StockNews.com raised shares of Banc of California from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Raymond James lifted their price objective on shares of Banc of California from $17.00 to $18.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Banc of California presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $18.18.

Banc of California Stock Performance

NYSE BANC opened at $14.55 on Wednesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $15.18 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $15.42. The stock has a market cap of $2.31 billion, a PE ratio of 25.98 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 0.90. Banc of California, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $11.88 and a fifty-two week high of $18.08.

Banc of California (NYSE:BANC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 23rd. The bank reported $0.28 earnings per share 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%. On average, equities analysts expect that Banc of California, Inc. will post 1.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Banc of California Announces Dividend

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