Hope Bancorp (NASDAQ:HOPE) EVP Thomas Stenger Sells 1,500 Shares of Stock

Hope Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:HOPE) EVP Thomas Stenger sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 8th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $331,303.04. The trade was a 5.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink.

Hope Bancorp Stock Up 0.9%

Shares of HOPE opened at $12.78 on Wednesday. Hope Bancorp, Inc. has a 52 week low of $9.44 and a 52 week high of $13.09. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.58 and a beta of 0.84. 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 stock has a fifty day moving average of $12.27 and a 200-day moving average of $11.71.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.22 by $0.01. Hope Bancorp had a return on equity of 5.32% and a net margin of 6.56%.The company had revenue of $133.82 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $145.30 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.17 EPS. Hope Bancorp’s revenue was up 21.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, 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 company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 22nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 8th were paid a $0.14 dividend. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.4%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 8th. Hope Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is presently 107.69%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

HOPE has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Brean Capital upgraded Hope Bancorp from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 1st. Zacks Research upgraded Hope Bancorp from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 31st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased 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, April 6th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Hope Bancorp from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 26th. Finally, DA Davidson increased their price objective on Hope Bancorp from $14.50 to $15.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Hope Bancorp presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $14.50.

Institutional Trading of Hope Bancorp

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in HOPE. HoldCo Asset Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Hope Bancorp in the 4th quarter valued at about $32,838,000. Millennium Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Hope Bancorp by 366.8% in the 3rd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,340,635 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $14,439,000 after buying an additional 1,053,434 shares during the period. UBS Group AG grew its stake in shares of Hope Bancorp by 73.5% in 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 buying an additional 835,814 shares during the period. Rhino Investment Partners Inc grew its stake in shares of Hope Bancorp by 29.8% in 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 buying an additional 435,165 shares during the period. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Hope Bancorp by 44.6% in the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,310,967 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $14,368,000 after buying an additional 404,505 shares during the period. 84.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.