Hope Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:HOPE) Stock Has Average Target Price of $15.50

Shares of Hope Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:HOPE) have been given an average rating of “Moderate Buy” by the six ratings firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $15.50.

Several equities analysts have commented on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on Hope Bancorp from $14.00 to $15.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. Benchmark upgraded Hope Bancorp to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 23rd. DA Davidson upped their price objective on Hope Bancorp from $15.00 to $16.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 28th. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded Hope Bancorp from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Friday, October 9th.

Hope Bancorp Stock Up 0.1%

Shares of HOPE opened at $14.07 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 0.98. Hope Bancorp has a 52 week low of $9.80 and a 52 week high of $14.59. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.07 and a beta of 0.87. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $13.77 and a 200-day moving average of $13.28.

Hope Bancorp (NASDAQ:HOPE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 27th. The financial services provider reported $0.27 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.26 by $0.01. Hope Bancorp had a return on equity of 5.71% and a net margin of 12.53%. The business had revenue of $147.82 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $146.50 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted ($0.22) EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Hope Bancorp will post 1.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hope Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 20th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 6th were given a dividend of $0.14 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 6th. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.0%. Hope Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 56.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Hope Bancorp news, Director Daisy Ha sold 26,995 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $14.24, for a total transaction of $384,408.80. Following the sale, the director directly owned 346,120 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,928,748.80. The trade was a 7.24% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 2.27% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Hope Bancorp

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Bank of America Corp DE bought a new stake in shares of Hope Bancorp in the 2nd quarter valued at about $12,098,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Hope Bancorp by 4.5% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,367,855 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $82,298,000 after buying an additional 315,028 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Hope Bancorp in the second quarter valued at about $252,703,000. Empowered Funds LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Hope Bancorp in the second quarter valued at about $6,794,000. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc bought a new position in shares of Hope Bancorp during the second quarter worth about $3,925,000. Institutional investors own 84.00% of the company’s stock.

Hope Bancorp Company Profile

Hope Bancorp, Inc is the holding company for Bank of Hope, a full-service commercial bank headquartered in Los Angeles, California. The bank serves businesses, individuals and communities throughout the United States, with a particular focus on Korean American and other multicultural markets.

Bank of Hope offers a range of banking products and services, including business and consumer deposit accounts, commercial and industrial lending, commercial real estate financing, small business loans, residential mortgage lending and wealth management services.