Southern California Bancorp (NASDAQ:BCAL) Sees Large Growth in Short Interest

Southern California Bancorp (NASDAQ:BCAL) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in the month of October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totalling 439,600 shares, a growth of 5.3% from the September 30th total of 417,600 shares. Approximately 1.9% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 72,200 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 6.1 days.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Southern California Bancorp news, Director Lester Machado sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $14.37, for a total value of $143,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 15,437 shares in the company, valued at $221,829.69. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 19.64% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Southern California Bancorp

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Endeavour Capital Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Southern California Bancorp by 0.8% during the second quarter. Endeavour Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 1,131,513 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,241,000 after acquiring an additional 8,521 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its stake in Southern California Bancorp by 2.4% during the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 267,898 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,609,000 after buying an additional 6,266 shares during the last quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Southern California Bancorp by 8.8% during the 2nd quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. now owns 124,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,670,000 after buying an additional 10,000 shares during the last quarter. Keystone Wealth Services LLC purchased a new stake in Southern California Bancorp during the 3rd quarter valued at $617,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new stake in Southern California Bancorp during the 2nd quarter valued at $461,000. Institutional investors own 55.40% of the company’s stock.

Southern California Bancorp Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of BCAL opened at $14.58 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $270.46 million, a P/E ratio of -182.25 and a beta of 0.74. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $14.49 and a 200 day moving average of $14.20. Southern California Bancorp has a twelve month low of $12.30 and a twelve month high of $18.00.

Southern California Bancorp (NASDAQ:BCAL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 12th. The company reported $0.03 earnings per share for the quarter. The company had revenue of $22.18 million during the quarter. Southern California Bancorp had a negative net margin of 4.51% and a positive return on equity of 6.72%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Southern California Bancorp will post 1.03 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on shares of Southern California Bancorp from $23.00 to $19.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 2nd.

About Southern California Bancorp

Southern California Bancorp operates as the holding company for Bank of Southern California, N.A. that provides various financial products to individuals, professionals, and small-to medium-sized businesses. The company offers checking, personal and business savings, and money market accounts, as well as certificates of deposit.