Southern California Bancorp (NASDAQ:BCAL) Sees Significant Drop in Short Interest

Southern California Bancorp (NASDAQ:BCAL) was the target of a significant decrease in short interest in the month of July. As of July 31st, there was short interest totalling 630,300 shares, a decrease of 19.9% from the July 15th total of 786,800 shares. Approximately 3.2% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 95,500 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 6.6 days.

Institutional Trading of Southern California Bancorp

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. ELCO Management Co. LLC increased its position in Southern California Bancorp by 25.2% during the 2nd quarter. ELCO Management Co. LLC now owns 26,748 shares of the company’s stock valued at $360,000 after purchasing an additional 5,380 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its position 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 purchasing an additional 6,266 shares during the period. Endeavour Capital Advisors Inc. increased its position in Southern California Bancorp by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter. Endeavour Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 1,131,513 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,241,000 after purchasing an additional 8,521 shares during the period. Hennessy Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Southern California Bancorp by 8.8% during the 2nd quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. now owns 124,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,670,000 after buying an additional 10,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Southern California Bancorp during the 1st quarter worth approximately $159,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 55.40% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on 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.

Southern California Bancorp Stock Performance

Shares of Southern California Bancorp stock traded down $0.06 on Friday, hitting $14.40. The stock had a trading volume of 64,912 shares, compared to its average volume of 61,032. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $14.05 and a 200 day moving average of $14.44. Southern California Bancorp has a twelve month low of $12.30 and a twelve month high of $18.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $266.98 million, a P/E ratio of 11.90 and a beta of 0.75.

Southern California Bancorp (NASDAQ:BCAL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 12th. The company reported $0.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. Southern California Bancorp had a return on equity of 8.18% and a net margin of 17.56%. The company had revenue of $22.18 million during the quarter. Equities analysts expect that Southern California Bancorp will post 1.13 earnings per share for the current year.

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.