Short Interest in Banc of California, Inc. (NYSE:BANC) Decreases By 10.6%

Banc of California, Inc. (NYSE:BANC) was the recipient of a large decline in short interest in August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 11,940,000 shares, a decline of 10.6% from the August 15th total of 13,350,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 2,150,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 5.6 days.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Richard J. Lashley sold 75,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $14.00, for a total transaction of $1,050,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 719,826 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,077,564. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 7.37% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in BANC. Truist Financial Corp increased its stake in Banc of California by 9.8% in the fourth quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 13,747 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $185,000 after acquiring an additional 1,223 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank increased its stake in Banc of California by 156.8% in the fourth quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 295,114 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $3,963,000 after acquiring an additional 180,214 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors L.P. increased its stake in Banc of California by 27.6% in the fourth quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. now owns 27,813 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $373,000 after acquiring an additional 6,011 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Banc of California by 144.5% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,071,139 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $14,385,000 after acquiring an additional 633,132 shares during the period. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its stake in Banc of California by 1,123.0% in the fourth quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 227,272 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $3,052,000 after acquiring an additional 208,689 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.88% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on BANC. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Banc of California from $16.00 to $15.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on shares of Banc of California from $18.00 to $17.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Raymond James raised shares of Banc of California from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $16.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Banc of California from $15.00 to $14.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Wedbush reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $14.00 price objective on shares of Banc of California in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Banc of California currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $15.72.

Banc of California Stock Performance

Banc of California stock traded up $0.03 on Wednesday, reaching $14.72. 3,662,703 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,332,175. The stock has a market cap of $2.32 billion, a PE ratio of -4.41 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. Banc of California has a twelve month low of $9.96 and a twelve month high of $15.54. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $13.83 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $13.90.

Banc of California (NYSE:BANC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The bank reported $0.10 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.19 by ($0.09). The company had revenue of $492.38 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $271.42 million. Banc of California had a negative net margin of 21.99% and a positive return on equity of 2.12%. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.32 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Banc of California will post 0.61 EPS for the current year.

Banc of California Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be given a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.72%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 16th. Banc of California’s dividend payout ratio is currently -12.01%.

About Banc of California

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.