Hope Bancorp, Inc. $HOPE Shares Acquired by AlphaQuest LLC

AlphaQuest LLC boosted its position in Hope Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:HOPE) by 159.4% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 189,175 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 116,252 shares during the quarter. AlphaQuest LLC’s holdings in Hope Bancorp were worth $2,073,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 960 shares in the last quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. raised its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 1,051 shares in the last quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH raised its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 1,152 shares in the last quarter. Amalgamated Bank raised its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 1,250 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Corient Private Wealth LLC raised its stake in shares of Hope Bancorp by 6.9% in the 2nd quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 20,809 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $223,000 after purchasing an additional 1,340 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.00% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Daisy Y. Ha sold 12,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $12.53, for a total transaction of $150,360.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 373,115 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,675,130.95. The trade was a 3.12% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 2.27% of the company’s stock.

Hope Bancorp Price Performance

Shares of HOPE opened at $12.56 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.15 and a beta of 0.84. Hope Bancorp, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $9.44 and a fifty-two week high of $13.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.96. The business’s 50-day moving average is $11.95 and its 200-day moving average is $11.55.

Hope Bancorp (NASDAQ:HOPE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The financial services provider reported $0.23 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $145.30 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.17 EPS. Hope Bancorp’s quarterly revenue was up 21.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Hope Bancorp, Inc. will post 1.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hope Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 22nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 8th were issued a dividend of $0.14 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 8th. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.5%. Hope Bancorp’s payout ratio is presently 107.69%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on HOPE shares. Brean Capital raised shares of Hope Bancorp from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 1st. DA Davidson increased their price objective on shares of Hope Bancorp from $14.50 to $15.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. 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 report on Monday, April 6th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Hope Bancorp from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 31st. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut shares of Hope Bancorp from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price 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.