Hope Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:HOPE) Receives $13.75 Average PT from Brokerages

Hope Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:HOPE) has earned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the five ratings firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and two have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $13.75.

HOPE has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of Hope Bancorp from $12.00 to $13.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 28th. Zacks Research raised Hope Bancorp from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 31st. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Hope Bancorp in a report on Monday, December 29th. Brean Capital raised Hope Bancorp from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 1st. Finally, DA Davidson reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $14.50 target price on shares of Hope Bancorp in a research report on Wednesday, January 28th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Hope Bancorp

In related news, Director Daisy Y. Ha sold 31,020 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $12.48, for a total transaction of $387,129.60. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 5.16% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Hope Bancorp

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of HOPE. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in shares of Hope Bancorp by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 11,335,999 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $122,089,000 after purchasing an additional 303,019 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Hope Bancorp by 3.3% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,494,266 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $69,683,000 after purchasing an additional 209,442 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Hope Bancorp by 6.3% in the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,195,059 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $34,411,000 after buying an additional 188,182 shares during the last quarter. HoldCo Asset Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Hope Bancorp in the fourth quarter worth approximately $32,838,000. Finally, UBS Group AG grew its position in Hope Bancorp by 73.5% during the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 1,972,716 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $21,621,000 after buying an additional 835,814 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.00% of the company’s stock.

Hope Bancorp Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:HOPE opened at $11.63 on Wednesday. Hope Bancorp has a 1-year low of $8.82 and a 1-year high of $12.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.97. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $11.58 and a 200-day moving average price of $11.15. The company has a market capitalization of $1.49 billion, a PE ratio of 25.28 and a beta of 0.80.

Hope Bancorp (NASDAQ:HOPE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 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 5.81% and a return on equity of 5.09%. The company had revenue of $145.76 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $142.90 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.20 EPS. Hope Bancorp’s revenue was up 23.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Hope Bancorp will post 1.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hope Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 6th were paid a $0.14 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 6th. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.8%. Hope Bancorp’s 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.