Prudential Financial Inc. Sells 135,900 Shares of Banc of California, Inc. (NYSE:BANC)

Prudential Financial Inc. reduced its position in shares of Banc of California, Inc. (NYSE:BANC) by 33.4% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 270,781 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 135,900 shares during the quarter. Prudential Financial Inc.’s holdings in Banc of California were worth $4,186,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Fox Run Management L.L.C. purchased a new stake in shares of Banc of California during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $346,000. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS purchased a new position in Banc of California in the 4th quarter worth approximately $467,000. Sei Investments Co. lifted its position in Banc of California by 9.3% in the 4th quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 637,423 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $9,855,000 after acquiring an additional 54,238 shares in the last quarter. Blueshift Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Banc of California during the 4th quarter valued at $163,000. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Banc of California by 30.4% in the 4th quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 66,189 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,023,000 after purchasing an additional 15,433 shares in the last quarter. 86.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Banc of California Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of BANC opened at $14.11 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.89. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.20 and a beta of 1.18. Banc of California, Inc. has a 1 year low of $11.88 and a 1 year high of $18.08. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $15.01 and its 200-day simple moving average is $15.43.

Banc of California (NYSE:BANC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 23rd. The bank reported $0.28 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.23 by $0.05. Banc of California had a return on equity of 6.20% and a net margin of 7.06%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Banc of California, Inc. will post 1.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Banc of California Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.83%. Banc of California’s dividend payout ratio is 71.43%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Stephens lowered their price target on 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. started coverage on shares of Banc of California in a report on Friday, February 7th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $18.00 price target on the stock. StockNews.com raised shares of Banc of California from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Banc of California from $20.00 to $19.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Banc of California from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $17.00 to $20.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $18.18.

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.