NEW YORK (

TheStreet

) -- The ex-dividend date for

PacWest Bancorp

(Nasdaq:

PACW

) is tomorrow, February 15, 2012. Owners of shares as of market close today will be eligible for a dividend of 18 cents per share. At a price of $22.37 as of 9:30 a.m. ET, the dividend yield is 3.3%.

The average volume for PacWest has been 199,800 shares per day over the past 30 days. PacWest has a market cap of $771.7 million and is part of the

financial

sector and

banking

industry. Shares are up 14.6% year to date as of the close of trading on Monday.

PacWest Bancorp operates as the bank holding company for Pacific Western Bank that provides commercial banking products and services to small to medium size businesses, the owners and employees of those businesses, and households primarily in Southern California. The company has a P/E ratio of 15.8, equal to the average banking industry P/E ratio and below the S&P 500 P/E ratio of 17.7.

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TheStreet Ratings rates PacWest as a

buy

. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its impressive record of earnings per share growth, compelling growth in net income, expanding profit margins, solid stock price performance and notable return on equity. We feel these strengths outweigh the fact that the company is trading at a premium valuation based on our review of its current price compared to such things as earnings and book value. You can view the full

PacWest Ratings Report

.

See our

dividend calendar

or

top-yielding stocks list

.

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