SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) _ Banc of California Inc. (BANC) on Thursday reported fourth-quarter profit of $21.5 million.

The Santa Ana, California-based bank said it had earnings of 36 cents per share. Earnings, adjusted for non-recurring costs, were 45 cents per share.

The results topped Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of four analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of 44 cents per share.

The banking service and lending company posted revenue of $102.7 million in the period. Its revenue net of interest expense was $78.8 million, which fell short of Street forecasts. Three analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $86 million.

For the year, the company reported profit of $120 million, or $1.89 per share. Revenue was reported as $331.7 million.

Banc of California shares have increased slightly more than 6% since the beginning of the year. The stock has dropped 22% in the last 12 months.

This story was generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on BANC at https://www.zacks.com/ap/BANC

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