American Century Companies Inc. Reduces Holdings in Banc of California, Inc. (NYSE:BANC)

American Century Companies Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Banc of California, Inc. (NYSE:BANC) by 28.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 3,170,508 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 1,280,226 shares during the quarter. American Century Companies Inc. owned about 2.00% of Banc of California worth $49,016,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of BANC. PL Capital Advisors LLC boosted its position in 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 valued at $722,823,000 after acquiring an additional 43,730,207 shares in the last quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of 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 boosted its position in shares of Banc of California by 93.2% during the third 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. grew its stake in 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 holdings 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 worth $25,526,000 after purchasing an additional 1,481,692 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.88% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on BANC shares. Stephens reduced their target price on shares of Banc of California from $18.00 to $17.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 27th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Banc of California from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Banc of California from $20.00 to $19.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on 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, JPMorgan Chase & Co. began coverage on Banc of California in a research note on Friday, February 7th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $18.00 price objective for the company. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $18.18.

Banc of California Stock Up 0.9 %

BANC stock opened at $14.65 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.89. Banc of California, Inc. has a 1-year low of $11.88 and a 1-year high of $18.08. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.15 and a beta of 1.18. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $15.15 and a 200-day moving average price of $15.41.

Banc of California (NYSE:BANC) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The bank reported $0.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.23 by $0.05. Banc of California had a net margin of 7.06% and a return on equity of 6.20%. Equities analysts forecast that Banc of California, Inc. will post 1.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Banc of California Dividend Announcement

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