PacWest Bancorp (NASDAQ:PACW) Sees Strong Trading Volume on Analyst Upgrade

PacWest Bancorp (NASDAQ:PACW – Get Rating) shares saw unusually-high trading volume on Tuesday after DA Davidson raised their price target on the stock from $3.00 to $8.00. Approximately 17,017,726 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 11% from the previous session’s volume of 19,221,045 shares.The stock last traded at $7.94 and had previously closed at $6.85.

Several other brokerages have also recently commented on PACW. Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and set a $32.00 target price on shares of PacWest Bancorp in a report on Monday, March 13th. Truist Financial reduced their target price on shares of PacWest Bancorp from $29.00 to $13.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 23rd. Wedbush restated a “neutral” rating and set a $27.00 target price on shares of PacWest Bancorp in a report on Monday, March 13th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of PacWest Bancorp from $30.00 to $15.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 5th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on shares of PacWest Bancorp from $30.00 to $14.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, PacWest Bancorp currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $21.88.

Insider Activity

In other PacWest Bancorp news, CEO Paul W. Taylor purchased 19,800 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 9th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $22.21 per share, with a total value of $439,758.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 116,041 shares in the company, valued at $2,577,270.61. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Paul W. Taylor acquired 19,800 shares of PacWest Bancorp stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 9th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $22.21 per share, for a total transaction of $439,758.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 116,041 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,577,270.61. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director C William Hosler acquired 2,000 shares of PacWest Bancorp stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 9th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $20.66 per share, for a total transaction of $41,320.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 56,720 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,171,835.20. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have purchased 51,833 shares of company stock valued at $1,089,746 over the last ninety days. 1.31% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its holdings in PacWest Bancorp by 18.4% during the 1st quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 19,908 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $858,000 after purchasing an additional 3,096 shares during the last quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of PacWest Bancorp by 36.0% in the 1st quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 77,265 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,332,000 after buying an additional 20,441 shares during the last quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS boosted its holdings in shares of PacWest Bancorp by 12.7% in the 1st quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 43,827 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,890,000 after buying an additional 4,951 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of PacWest Bancorp by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 9,989,212 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $430,835,000 after buying an additional 80,182 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Great West Life Assurance Co. Can raised its stake in PacWest Bancorp by 11.9% in the 1st quarter. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can now owns 67,477 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,993,000 after acquiring an additional 7,173 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 91.97% of the company’s stock.

PacWest Bancorp Stock Up 7.7 %

The stock has a 50 day moving average of $8.77 and a 200-day moving average of $19.33. The firm has a market capitalization of $871.14 million, a P/E ratio of -0.94 and a beta of 1.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.61, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a current ratio of 1.21.

PacWest Bancorp (NASDAQ:PACW – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 26th. The financial services provider reported $0.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.65 by $0.01. PacWest Bancorp had a positive return on equity of 14.46% and a negative net margin of 48.43%. The business had revenue of $315.69 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $311.72 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.01 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that PacWest Bancorp will post 1.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PacWest Bancorp Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.01 per share. This represents a $0.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.54%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 12th. PacWest Bancorp’s payout ratio is -0.51%.

About PacWest Bancorp

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PacWest Bancorp is a bank holding company, which specializes in financial and banking solutions. It offers commercial banking services including real estate, construction, commercial loans, comprehensive deposit, and treasury management services to small and middle-market businesses through the Pacific Western Bank.