SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) _ Banc of California Inc. (BANC) on Thursday reported fourth-quarter profit of $21.7 million.

The Santa Ana, California-based bank said it had earnings of 35 cents per share.

The results topped Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of five analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of 19 cents per share.

The banking service and lending company posted revenue of $80.5 million in the period. Its revenue net of interest expense was $68.5 million, also exceeding Street forecasts. Four analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $61.3 million.

For the year, the company reported profit of $12.6 million, or 2 cents per share. Revenue was reported as $243.1 million.

Banc of California shares have increased 22% since the beginning of the year. The stock has increased nearly 5% 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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