Peregrine Capital Management LLC Sells 15,822 Shares of Banc of California, Inc. (NYSE:BANC)

Peregrine Capital Management LLC decreased its stake in Banc of California, Inc. (NYSE:BANC) by 3.5% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 430,526 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 15,822 shares during the quarter. Peregrine Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Banc of California were worth $6,656,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Basswood Capital Management L.L.C. grew its stake in 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 valued at $25,526,000 after purchasing an additional 1,481,692 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP bought a new position in shares of Banc of California in the third quarter valued at $21,207,000. Verition Fund Management LLC grew 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 in the last quarter. Azora Capital LP acquired a new position in Banc of California during the third quarter worth $12,494,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in Banc of California by 461.6% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 651,695 shares of the bank’s stock worth $9,599,000 after acquiring an additional 535,654 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.88% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on BANC shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. assumed coverage on shares of Banc of California in a research note on Friday, February 7th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $18.00 price objective on the stock. Stephens dropped their price objective on Banc of California from $18.00 to $17.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 27th. DA Davidson lifted their target price on Banc of California from $16.50 to $19.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Banc of California from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the company from $17.00 to $20.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Finally, 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. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Banc of California has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $18.18.

Banc of California Trading Up 1.9 %

BANC stock opened at $15.91 on Wednesday. Banc of California, Inc. has a 52 week low of $11.88 and a 52 week high of $18.08. The company has a market capitalization of $2.53 billion, a PE ratio of 28.40 and a beta of 1.14. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $15.88 and its 200 day simple moving average is $15.32. 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 (NYSE:BANC) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The bank reported $0.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.23 by $0.05. Banc of California had a net margin of 7.06% and a return on equity of 6.20%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Banc of California, Inc. will post 1.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Banc of California Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.51%. Banc of California’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.