Hope Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:HOPE) Receives Consensus Rating of “Hold” from Analysts

Shares of Hope Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:HOPE) have been given a consensus rating of “Hold” by the five analysts that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and two have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $14.25.

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on HOPE shares. Brean Capital upgraded Hope Bancorp from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 1st. DA Davidson restated a “buy” rating and issued a $14.50 price target on shares of Hope Bancorp in a research note on Wednesday, January 28th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Hope Bancorp in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Zacks Research upgraded Hope Bancorp from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 31st. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on Hope Bancorp from $13.00 to $14.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Hope Bancorp news, Director Daisy Y. Ha sold 31,020 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $12.48, for a total value of $387,129.60. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 5.16% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its holdings in Hope Bancorp by 9.0% in the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 11,647 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $128,000 after buying an additional 960 shares in the last quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. grew its holdings in Hope Bancorp by 6.2% in the 4th quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 18,064 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $198,000 after buying an additional 1,051 shares in the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC grew its holdings in Hope Bancorp by 5.1% in the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 22,218 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $244,000 after buying an additional 1,074 shares in the last quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH grew its holdings in Hope Bancorp by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH now owns 269,046 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,950,000 after buying an additional 1,152 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amalgamated Bank grew its holdings in Hope Bancorp by 3.5% in the 3rd quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 36,959 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $398,000 after buying an additional 1,250 shares in the last quarter. 84.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Hope Bancorp Stock Up 0.8%

HOPE opened at $11.88 on Wednesday. Hope Bancorp has a 1-year low of $8.82 and a 1-year high of $12.79. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $11.57 and its 200 day simple moving average is $11.16. The company has a current ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. The stock has a market cap of $1.52 billion, a PE ratio of 25.83 and a beta of 0.80.

Hope Bancorp (NASDAQ:HOPE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 27th. The financial services provider reported $0.27 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.26 by $0.01. Hope Bancorp had a return on equity of 5.09% and a net margin of 5.81%.The business had revenue of $145.76 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $142.90 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.20 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Hope Bancorp will post 1.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Hope Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 6th were issued a $0.14 dividend. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 6th. Hope Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is currently 121.74%.

About Hope Bancorp

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.