Hope Bancorp (NASDAQ:HOPE) EVP Sells $19,020.00 in Stock

Hope Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:HOPE) EVP Thomas Stenger sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $12.68, for a total value of $19,020.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 26,128 shares in the company, valued at approximately $331,303.04. This trade represents a 5.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link.

Hope Bancorp Trading Up 0.9%

Shares of NASDAQ:HOPE traded up $0.11 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $12.78. 840,995 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 732,150. Hope Bancorp, Inc. has a 12-month low of $9.44 and a 12-month high of $13.09. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $12.27 and its 200 day moving average price is $11.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 0.96. The firm has a market cap of $1.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.58 and a beta of 0.84.

Hope Bancorp (NASDAQ:HOPE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 28th. The financial services provider reported $0.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.22 by $0.01. Hope Bancorp had a net margin of 6.56% and a return on equity of 5.32%. The company had revenue of $133.82 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $145.30 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.17 earnings per share. Hope Bancorp’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Hope Bancorp, Inc. will post 1.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hope Bancorp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 22nd. Investors of record on Friday, May 8th were given a dividend of $0.14 per share. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 8th. Hope Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is 107.69%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Hope Bancorp

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. HoldCo Asset Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Hope Bancorp during the fourth quarter worth about $32,838,000. Millennium Management LLC boosted its holdings in Hope Bancorp by 366.8% in the third quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,340,635 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $14,439,000 after purchasing an additional 1,053,434 shares during the last quarter. UBS Group AG grew its stake in Hope Bancorp by 73.5% during the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 1,972,716 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $21,621,000 after purchasing an additional 835,814 shares in the last quarter. Rhino Investment Partners Inc grew its stake in Hope Bancorp by 29.8% during the 3rd quarter. Rhino Investment Partners Inc now owns 1,896,501 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $20,425,000 after purchasing an additional 435,165 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its holdings in Hope Bancorp by 44.6% during the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,310,967 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $14,368,000 after purchasing an additional 404,505 shares during the last quarter. 84.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on HOPE. DA Davidson boosted their price objective on Hope Bancorp from $14.50 to $15.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Brean Capital upgraded Hope Bancorp from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 1st. Zacks Research raised Hope Bancorp from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 31st. Weiss Ratings upgraded Hope Bancorp from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 26th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of Hope Bancorp from $13.00 to $14.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $14.50.

Hope Bancorp Company 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.