Banc of California, Inc. (NYSE:BANC) Shares Sold by Citigroup Inc.

Citigroup Inc. reduced its holdings in Banc of California, Inc. (NYSE:BANC - Free Report) by 25.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 395,958 shares of the bank's stock after selling 137,220 shares during the quarter. Citigroup Inc. owned about 0.25% of Banc of California worth $5,832,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in Banc of California by 394.1% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 331,076 shares of the bank's stock valued at $5,037,000 after acquiring an additional 264,070 shares during the period. Seven Eight Capital LP acquired a new stake in shares of Banc of California in the second quarter valued at about $549,000. Hodges Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Banc of California by 13.6% during the second quarter. Hodges Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,986,246 shares of the bank's stock worth $25,384,000 after buying an additional 238,242 shares in the last quarter. Hollencrest Capital Management grew its position in Banc of California by 71.4% during the second quarter. Hollencrest Capital Management now owns 107,842 shares of the bank's stock worth $1,378,000 after buying an additional 44,920 shares during the period. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings in Banc of California by 461.6% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 651,695 shares of the bank's stock valued at $9,599,000 after buying an additional 535,654 shares in the last quarter. 86.88% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently issued reports on BANC. Citigroup began coverage on Banc of California in a report on Thursday, October 10th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $15.00 price objective for the company. Raymond James boosted their price objective on shares of Banc of California from $16.00 to $17.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Banc of California from $16.00 to $17.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Truist Financial increased their price target on shares of Banc of California from $15.00 to $16.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, DA Davidson lifted their price objective on Banc of California from $16.50 to $19.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $17.30.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Banc of California news, Director Richard J. Lashley sold 75,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $14.00, for a total value of $1,050,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 719,826 shares of the company's stock, valued at $10,077,564. This represents a 9.44 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 7.37% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Banc of California Trading Down 1.3 %

BANC traded down $0.23 during trading on Monday, hitting $17.00. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,811,143 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,347,204. Banc of California, Inc. has a twelve month low of $11.88 and a twelve month high of $18.08. The stock has a market cap of $2.70 billion, a PE ratio of -4.00 and a beta of 1.13. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $15.49 and its 200-day moving average price is $14.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.89.

Banc of California (NYSE:BANC - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The bank reported $0.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.14 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $431.44 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $229.46 million. Banc of California had a negative net margin of 20.75% and a positive return on equity of 2.93%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.30 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Banc of California, Inc. will post 0.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Banc of California Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th will be paid a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 16th. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.35%. Banc of California's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -9.37%.

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.