Keeley Teton Advisors LLC Purchases 16,070 Shares of Banc of California, Inc. $BANC

Key Points

• Keeley Teton Advisors LLC increased its stake in Banc of California, Inc. by 36.4%, now holding 60,232 shares valued at approximately $855,000.
• Insiders, including Olivia I. Lindsay and Director Richard J. Lashley, sold a combined 48,500 shares recently, reflecting a decrease in their ownership of the company.
• Analysts remain positive on Banc of California, with eight analysts rating it a "Buy" and an average price target of $17.33, shortly after the company reported a beat on EPS expectations.

Keeley Teton Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Banc of California, Inc. (NYSE:BANC - Free Report) by 36.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 60,232 shares of the bank's stock after acquiring an additional 16,070 shares during the quarter. Keeley Teton Advisors LLC's holdings in Banc of California were worth $855,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. CWM LLC lifted its holdings in Banc of California by 41.7% in the first quarter. CWM LLC now owns 8,049 shares of the bank's stock valued at $114,000 after acquiring an additional 2,367 shares during the period. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S purchased a new position in shares of Banc of California in the first quarter valued at $123,000. Quantinno Capital Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Banc of California in the fourth quarter valued at $156,000. Xponance Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Banc of California in the first quarter valued at $148,000. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers purchased a new position in shares of Banc of California in the fourth quarter valued at $178,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.88% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Banc of California Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BANC traded up $0.12 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $16.95. 2,072,957 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,969,759. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.88. Banc of California, Inc. has a twelve month low of $11.52 and a twelve month high of $18.08. The company has a market cap of $2.50 billion, a PE ratio of 26.07 and a beta of 0.69. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $15.00 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $14.27.

Banc of California (NYSE:BANC - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The bank reported $0.31 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.28 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $272.85 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $278.43 million. Banc of California had a return on equity of 7.37% and a net margin of 8.30%.The business's revenue was up 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.12 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Banc of California, Inc. will post 1.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Banc of California Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 1st. Investors of record on Monday, September 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 15th. Banc of California's dividend payout ratio is 61.54%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Richard J. Lashley sold 37,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $14.20, for a total transaction of $532,500.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 2,280,280 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $32,379,976. This represents a 1.62% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Olivia I. Lindsay sold 11,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $13.58, for a total value of $149,380.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 30,902 shares in the company, valued at approximately $419,649.16. This trade represents a 26.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 86,000 shares of company stock worth $1,208,000. 2.69% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.