Hope Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:HOPE) Short Interest Update

Hope Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:HOPE) was the recipient of a large drop in short interest during the month of February. As of February 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,700,000 shares, a drop of 15.8% from the January 31st total of 2,020,000 shares. Currently, 1.5% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 663,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.6 days.

Insider Activity at Hope Bancorp

In other Hope Bancorp news, EVP Thomas Stenger sold 4,185 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.83, for a total value of $49,508.55. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 19,267 shares in the company, valued at approximately $227,928.61. This represents a 17.84 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 5.29% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Hope Bancorp

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Hope Bancorp by 1.9% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,152,656 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $77,277,000 after purchasing an additional 112,824 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in Hope Bancorp by 30.1% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,553,508 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $57,192,000 after buying an additional 1,054,124 shares during the period. Frontier Capital Management Co. LLC lifted its stake in Hope Bancorp by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Frontier Capital Management Co. LLC now owns 2,963,643 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $36,423,000 after buying an additional 103,554 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Hope Bancorp by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,842,056 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $35,703,000 after purchasing an additional 48,237 shares during the period. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. grew its position in Hope Bancorp by 12.5% during the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,552,914 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $31,375,000 after purchasing an additional 283,514 shares in the last quarter. 84.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have weighed in on HOPE shares. DA Davidson cut their target price on Hope Bancorp from $15.50 to $14.50 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on shares of Hope Bancorp from $13.00 to $12.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Hope Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $12.88.

Hope Bancorp Price Performance

Shares of Hope Bancorp stock traded down $0.12 during trading on Friday, hitting $10.36. The stock had a trading volume of 81,483 shares, compared to its average volume of 662,124. The business has a fifty day moving average of $11.63 and a two-hundred day moving average of $12.43. Hope Bancorp has a fifty-two week low of $9.80 and a fifty-two week high of $14.54. The firm has a market cap of $1.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.64 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.96.

Hope Bancorp (NASDAQ:HOPE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The financial services provider reported $0.20 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.17 by $0.03. Hope Bancorp had a net margin of 9.95% and a return on equity of 4.84%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Hope Bancorp will post 1.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hope Bancorp Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 20th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 6th were given a dividend of $0.14 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 6th. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.40%. Hope Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 68.29%.

About Hope Bancorp

Hope Bancorp, Inc operates as the bank holding company for Bank of Hope that provides retail and commercial banking services for businesses and individuals in the United States. It accepts personal and business checking, money market, savings, time deposit, and individual retirement accounts. The company also offers loans comprising commercial and industrial loans to businesses for various purposes, such as working capital, purchasing inventory, debt refinancing, business acquisitions, international trade finance, other business-related financing, and loans syndication services; commercial real estate loans; residential mortgage loans; small business administration loans; and consumer loans, such as single-family mortgage, home equity, automobile, credit card, and personal loans.