Verition Fund Management LLC Trims Stock Holdings in Banc of California, Inc. $BANC

Verition Fund Management LLC decreased its stake in Banc of California, Inc. (NYSE:BANC) by 23.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 732,650 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 227,226 shares during the quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC’s holdings in Banc of California were worth $14,133,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Banc of California by 4.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,951,795 shares of the bank’s stock worth $191,970,000 after buying an additional 438,320 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in Banc of California by 16.0% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,863,656 shares of the bank’s stock worth $113,111,000 after buying an additional 810,254 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in Banc of California by 7.7% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,829,231 shares of the bank’s stock worth $96,474,000 after buying an additional 418,293 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its position in Banc of California by 8.5% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 3,796,996 shares of the bank’s stock worth $53,879,000 after buying an additional 297,680 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE increased its position in Banc of California by 243.9% in the third quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 3,430,938 shares of the bank’s stock worth $56,782,000 after buying an additional 2,433,394 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.88% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have commented on BANC. Weiss Ratings cut Banc of California from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 4th. Piper Sandler upped their price target on Banc of California from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Banc of California from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, March 30th. DA Davidson restated a “buy” rating and issued a $24.00 price target on shares of Banc of California in a research report on Tuesday, April 28th. Finally, Barclays cut their target price on Banc of California from $25.00 to $23.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Banc of California presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $22.31.

Banc of California Price Performance

Shares of Banc of California stock opened at $19.71 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $18.82 and a 200 day moving average of $19.04. Banc of California, Inc. has a 12 month low of $13.24 and a 12 month high of $21.61. The firm has a market cap of $3.04 billion, a PE ratio of 15.04 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

Banc of California (NYSE:BANC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The bank reported $0.39 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.01. Banc of California had a return on equity of 9.25% and a net margin of 13.58%.The company had revenue of $286.95 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $291.28 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.26 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 7.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Banc of California, Inc. will post 1.72 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Banc of California Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 1st. Investors of record on Monday, June 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.12 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 15th. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.4%. Banc of California’s dividend payout ratio is presently 36.64%.

Banc of California Company Profile

Banc of California, N.A. is a full-service commercial bank headquartered in Santa Ana, California, offering a broad spectrum of banking products and services to corporate and individual customers. The bank focuses on serving middle-market businesses, professional service firms, real estate investors and developers, and entrepreneurs throughout California. Its core offerings include deposit accounts, treasury management services, commercial real estate lending, equipment finance, lines of credit and Small Business Administration lending, complemented by cash management and online banking solutions.

Operating a network of branches and lending offices concentrated in both Southern and Northern California, Banc of California seeks to support local businesses and communities with personalized service and regional expertise.