HighTower Advisors LLC Invests $410,000 in Banc of California, Inc. $BANC

Key Points

• HighTower Advisors LLC has invested approximately $410,000 in Banc of California, acquiring 28,876 shares, as part of a broader trend of institutional investment in the bank.
• Analysts have raised their price targets for Banc of California, with JPMorgan setting a target of $16.00 and Wells Fargo increasing theirs to $18.00, indicating positive sentiment towards the stock.
• Banc of California announced a quarterly dividend of $0.10 per share, translating to an annualized yield of 2.4%, with the next payout scheduled for October 1st.

HighTower Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Banc of California, Inc. (NYSE:BANC - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 28,876 shares of the bank's stock, valued at approximately $410,000.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Public Sector Pension Investment Board raised its position in shares of Banc of California by 27.3% in the first quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 436,850 shares of the bank's stock valued at $6,199,000 after buying an additional 93,667 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Banc of California in the first quarter valued at about $6,390,000. Aigen Investment Management LP raised its position in shares of Banc of California by 43.5% in the first quarter. Aigen Investment Management LP now owns 37,170 shares of the bank's stock valued at $527,000 after buying an additional 11,271 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in shares of Banc of California by 127.4% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,453,245 shares of the bank's stock valued at $63,192,000 after buying an additional 2,495,043 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wolverine Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Banc of California by 49.4% in the first quarter. Wolverine Asset Management LLC now owns 80,021 shares of the bank's stock valued at $1,135,000 after buying an additional 26,446 shares during the last quarter. 86.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on BANC shares. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Banc of California from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Banc of California from $16.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $18.00 target price (up from $17.00) on shares of Banc of California in a research note on Friday, July 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Banc of California from $15.00 to $16.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 1st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of Banc of California in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. They set a "buy" rating and a $18.00 target price on the stock. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $17.33.

Banc of California Stock Up 0.7%

Shares of BANC stock traded up $0.13 during trading on Thursday, reaching $16.89. The company's stock had a trading volume of 772,101 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,358,865. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.88. The company has a market capitalization of $2.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.93 and a beta of 0.71. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $15.18 and its 200 day moving average price is $14.30. Banc of California, Inc. has a 1-year low of $11.52 and a 1-year high of $18.08.

Banc of California (NYSE:BANC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The bank reported $0.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.28 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $272.85 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $278.43 million. Banc of California had a net margin of 8.30% and a return on equity of 7.37%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.12 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate 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 Wednesday, October 1st. Investors of record on Monday, September 15th will be issued a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 15th. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.4%. Banc of California's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 61.54%.

Insider Activity at Banc of California

In related news, Director Richard J. Lashley sold 37,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $14.20, for a total value of $532,500.00. Following the sale, the director owned 2,280,280 shares of the company's stock, valued at $32,379,976. This trade represents a 1.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Hamid Hussain sold 20,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.59, for a total transaction of $331,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 66,444 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,102,305.96. This trade represents a 23.14% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 95,000 shares of company stock worth $1,390,420. 2.69% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.