Hope Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:HOPE) Receives $13.17 Consensus Price Target from Brokerages

Shares of Hope Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:HOPE) have been assigned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the four analysts that are covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and one has issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $13.75.

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on HOPE shares. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $14.50 price objective 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 report on Monday, December 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on Hope Bancorp from $12.00 to $13.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 28th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Hope Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, November 8th.

Hope Bancorp Price Performance

Hope Bancorp stock opened at $12.33 on Wednesday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $11.40 and its 200 day simple moving average is $10.89. The company has a quick ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. The stock has a market cap of $1.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.80 and a beta of 0.87. Hope Bancorp has a 12-month low of $8.82 and a 12-month high of $12.59.

Hope Bancorp (NASDAQ:HOPE) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, January 27th. The financial services provider reported $0.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 the consensus estimate of $142.90 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.20 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 23.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Hope Bancorp will post 1.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Hope Bancorp Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 20th. Investors of record on Friday, February 6th will be issued a dividend of $0.14 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 6th. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.5%. Hope Bancorp’s payout ratio is currently 121.74%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director David P. Malone sold 20,820 shares of Hope Bancorp stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.50, for a total transaction of $239,430.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 66,658 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $766,567. This trade represents a 23.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders have sold 26,787 shares of company stock valued at $303,917 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 5.16% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Hope Bancorp

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in HOPE. Millennium Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of 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 worth $14,439,000 after acquiring an additional 1,053,434 shares in the last quarter. UBS Group AG increased 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 worth $21,621,000 after purchasing an additional 835,814 shares in the last quarter. Rhino Investment Partners Inc lifted its stake in Hope Bancorp by 29.8% in the third quarter. Rhino Investment Partners Inc now owns 1,896,501 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $20,425,000 after buying an additional 435,165 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its holdings in shares of Hope Bancorp by 54.2% in the second quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 877,835 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $9,419,000 after buying an additional 308,646 shares during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in shares of Hope Bancorp by 2.7% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 11,335,999 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $122,089,000 after acquiring an additional 303,019 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.00% of the company’s stock.

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.