Principal Financial Group Inc. Increases Holdings in Banc of California, Inc. (NYSE:BANC)

Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in Banc of California, Inc. (NYSE:BANC - Free Report) by 2.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 668,077 shares of the bank's stock after purchasing an additional 18,742 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.42% of Banc of California worth $10,328,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Crescent Grove Advisors LLC increased its stake in Banc of California by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Crescent Grove Advisors LLC now owns 99,084 shares of the bank's stock worth $1,542,000 after acquiring an additional 664 shares during the period. World Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Banc of California by 4.5% in the third quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 18,082 shares of the bank's stock worth $266,000 after purchasing an additional 779 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its stake in Banc of California by 5.8% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 20,659 shares of the bank's stock valued at $304,000 after purchasing an additional 1,126 shares in the last quarter. Sippican Capital Advisors lifted its position in Banc of California by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Sippican Capital Advisors now owns 123,667 shares of the bank's stock worth $1,912,000 after purchasing an additional 2,057 shares during the period. Finally, Quadrature Capital Ltd grew its stake in Banc of California by 12.2% during the third quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd now owns 19,117 shares of the bank's stock worth $281,000 after buying an additional 2,080 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.88% of the company's stock.

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Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on BANC. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Banc of California from $20.00 to $19.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 24th. Raymond James lifted their price target on shares of Banc of California from $17.00 to $18.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. 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 report on Monday, January 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on Banc of California from $17.50 to $20.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Banc of California from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $18.18.

Banc of California Stock Down 1.1 %

NYSE BANC traded down $0.16 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $14.51. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,063,542 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,875,534. The company has a market capitalization of $2.30 billion, a PE ratio of 25.96 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a current ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. Banc of California, Inc. has a 52 week low of $11.88 and a 52 week high of $18.08. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $15.67 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $15.44.

Banc of California (NYSE:BANC - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 23rd. The bank reported $0.28 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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%. Research analysts anticipate that Banc of California, Inc. will post 1.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Banc of California Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.76%. Banc of California's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 71.43%.

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.