BlackRock Inc. Acquires New Stake in Hope Bancorp, Inc. $HOPE

BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Hope Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:HOPE) in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund acquired 18,472,441 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $252,703,000. BlackRock Inc. owned approximately 0.14% of Hope Bancorp as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Deutsche Bank AG acquired a new stake in Hope Bancorp in the second quarter valued at about $2,065,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in Hope Bancorp during the second quarter worth $36,000. Global Retirement Partners LLC purchased a new position in Hope Bancorp in the second quarter worth $35,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new position in Hope Bancorp in the second quarter worth $10,384,000. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its holdings in Hope Bancorp by 62.7% in the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 7,848 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $107,000 after acquiring an additional 3,023 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Daisy Y. Ha sold 26,995 shares of Hope Bancorp stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $14.24, for a total transaction of $384,408.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 346,120 shares in the company, valued at $4,928,748.80. The trade was a 7.24% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 2.27% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

HOPE has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of Hope Bancorp from $14.00 to $15.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. DA Davidson raised their price objective on shares of Hope Bancorp from $15.00 to $16.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 28th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised shares of Hope Bancorp from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 11th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $15.50.

Hope Bancorp Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ HOPE opened at $13.92 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $13.76 and its 200 day moving average price is $12.62. Hope Bancorp, Inc. has a 52 week low of $9.80 and a 52 week high of $14.59. The stock has a market cap of $1.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.92 and a beta of 0.83.

Hope Bancorp (NASDAQ:HOPE) last announced its earnings results on Monday, July 27th. The financial services provider reported $0.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.26 by $0.01. Hope Bancorp had a net margin of 12.53% and a return on equity of 5.71%. The company had revenue of $147.82 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $146.50 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted ($0.22) earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Hope Bancorp, Inc. will post 1.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hope Bancorp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 20th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 6th were paid a dividend of $0.14 per share. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 6th. Hope Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 56.00%.

Hope Bancorp Profile

Hope Bancorp, Inc operates as the bank holding company for Hope Bank, a California-chartered financial institution serving small and middle-market businesses, professionals and affluent individuals. The company’s principal activities include accepting a variety of deposit products—such as checking accounts, savings and money market accounts, and time deposits—and extending commercial credit facilities. With a focus on community banking, Hope Bancorp tailors its offerings to meet the needs of clients in diverse industries, including real estate, professional services and import/export trade.

In its lending business, Hope Bancorp provides commercial real estate loans, construction financing, working capital lines of credit and equipment financing.