Insider Selling: Banc of California, Inc. (NYSE:BANC) Director Sells 37,343 Shares of Stock

Banc of California, Inc. (NYSE:BANC - Get Free Report) Director Richard J. Lashley sold 37,343 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, June 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $14.03, for a total value of $523,922.29. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 2,317,780 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $32,518,453.40. This trade represents a 1.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link.

Banc of California Price Performance

Banc of California stock traded down $0.44 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $13.62. 1,338,251 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,290,558. The company has a quick ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The business has a fifty day moving average of $13.62 and a 200 day moving average of $14.75. Banc of California, Inc. has a 1-year low of $11.52 and a 1-year high of $18.08. The company has a market capitalization of $2.01 billion, a PE ratio of 24.32 and a beta of 0.67.

Banc of California (NYSE:BANC - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The bank reported $0.26 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.24 by $0.02. Banc of California had a return on equity of 6.20% and a net margin of 7.06%. The company had revenue of $266.01 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $272.36 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.19 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Banc of California, Inc. will post 1.31 earnings per share for the current year.

Banc of California Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be paid a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 16th. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.94%. Banc of California's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 61.54%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently commented on BANC. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on Banc of California in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. They issued a "buy" rating and a $18.00 target price for the company. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on Banc of California from $20.00 to $16.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Banc of California from $16.00 to $15.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on Banc of California from $19.00 to $17.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Stephens reaffirmed an "equal weight" rating and issued a $15.00 target price on shares of Banc of California in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $17.17.

Institutional Trading of Banc of California

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in BANC. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Banc of California by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 668,077 shares of the bank's stock valued at $10,328,000 after buying an additional 18,742 shares in the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Banc of California by 60.4% in the fourth quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 18,132 shares of the bank's stock valued at $294,000 after buying an additional 6,826 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc increased its position in Banc of California by 4.8% in the fourth quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 15,052 shares of the bank's stock worth $233,000 after purchasing an additional 683 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund increased its position in Banc of California by 1,159.7% in the fourth quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 479,912 shares of the bank's stock worth $7,419,000 after purchasing an additional 441,814 shares during the period. Finally, Handelsbanken Fonder AB increased its position in Banc of California by 89.7% in the fourth quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 24,316 shares of the bank's stock worth $376,000 after purchasing an additional 11,500 shares during the period. 86.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.