22,385 Shares in Banc of California, Inc. (NYSE:BANC) Purchased by Fox Run Management L.L.C.

Fox Run Management L.L.C. bought a new stake in shares of Banc of California, Inc. (NYSE:BANC) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 22,385 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $346,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. PL Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in Banc of California by 1,446.0% during 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 in the last quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Banc of California by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 2,556,614 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $39,525,000 after purchasing an additional 62,269 shares during the period. Verition Fund Management LLC grew its position in shares of Banc of California by 93.2% during the 3rd quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 2,476,387 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $36,477,000 after purchasing an additional 1,194,839 shares in the last quarter. Hodges Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings 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 worth $35,270,000 after purchasing an additional 221,125 shares during the period. Finally, Basswood Capital Management L.L.C. raised its position in shares of Banc of California by 589.8% in 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. 86.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BANC has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Banc of California from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $17.00 to $20.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Banc of California from $20.00 to $19.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Stephens dropped their target price on shares of 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 boosted their price target 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. Finally, Raymond James lifted their price objective on shares of Banc of California from $17.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Banc of California presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $18.18.

Banc of California Stock Performance

NYSE BANC opened at $14.65 on Thursday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $15.15 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $15.41. Banc of California, Inc. has a 12-month low of $11.88 and a 12-month high of $18.08. The firm has a market cap of $2.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.15 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a quick ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

Banc of California (NYSE:BANC) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The bank reported $0.28 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 forecast that Banc of California, Inc. will post 1.31 EPS for the current year.

Banc of California Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Banc of California’s dividend payout ratio is 71.43%.

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.