Oxford Asset Management LLP Takes $351,000 Position in Banc of California, Inc. (NYSE:BANC)

Oxford Asset Management LLP bought a new position in shares of Banc of California, Inc. (NYSE:BANC) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor bought 22,679 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $351,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Picton Mahoney Asset Management purchased a new stake in Banc of California during the 4th quarter worth $30,000. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Banc of California during the fourth quarter valued at about $36,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its position in shares of Banc of California by 35.1% during the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 3,574 shares of the bank’s stock worth $55,000 after acquiring an additional 928 shares during the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Banc of California by 205.8% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 4,348 shares of the bank’s stock worth $68,000 after acquiring an additional 2,926 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Summit Securities Group LLC purchased a new position in Banc of California in the fourth quarter valued at about $97,000. 86.88% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Banc of California from $20.00 to $16.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Stephens cut their price target on shares of Banc of California from $18.00 to $17.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 27th. Raymond James increased 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. StockNews.com raised shares of Banc of California from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Banc of California from $19.00 to $18.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $17.67.

Banc of California Trading Down 2.0 %

Shares of NYSE BANC opened at $13.20 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $2.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.57 and a beta of 0.85. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $13.74 and its 200 day simple moving average is $15.19. The company has a current ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. Banc of California, Inc. has a 12-month low of $11.52 and a 12-month high of $18.08.

Banc of California (NYSE:BANC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The bank reported $0.26 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.24 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $266.01 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $272.36 million. Banc of California had a net margin of 7.06% and a return on equity of 6.20%. Equities research analysts expect that Banc of California, Inc. will post 1.31 EPS for the current year.

Banc of California Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.03%. Banc of California’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 61.54%.

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.