Insider Selling: Hope Bancorp (NASDAQ:HOPE) Director Sells 12,000 Shares of Stock

Hope Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:HOPE) Director Daisy Ha sold 12,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $12.53, for a total value of $150,360.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 373,115 shares in the company, valued at $4,675,130.95. The trade was a 3.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link.

Hope Bancorp Trading Down 0.9%

HOPE traded down $0.11 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $12.41. The stock had a trading volume of 693,723 shares, compared to its average volume of 982,835. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.87 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 0.96. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $11.69 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $11.40. Hope Bancorp, Inc. has a 52 week low of $9.44 and a 52 week high of $13.02.

Hope Bancorp (NASDAQ:HOPE) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. The firm had revenue of $126.69 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $145.30 million. Hope Bancorp had a return on equity of 5.32% and a net margin of 6.56%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 21.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.17 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Hope Bancorp, Inc. will post 1.13 EPS for the current year.

Hope Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 22nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 8th will be given a $0.14 dividend. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.5%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 8th. Hope Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 107.69%.

Institutional Trading of Hope Bancorp

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in Hope Bancorp by 4.5% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,367,855 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $82,298,000 after buying an additional 315,028 shares during the period. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund raised its stake in Hope Bancorp by 6.6% during the 1st quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 69,078 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $772,000 after buying an additional 4,265 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in Hope Bancorp by 2.0% during the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 623,114 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $6,960,000 after buying an additional 12,275 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp raised its stake in shares of Hope Bancorp by 9,776.2% in the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 143,303 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,601,000 after purchasing an additional 141,852 shares during the period. Finally, Abel Hall LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Hope Bancorp in the 1st quarter valued at about $118,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Zacks Research upgraded Hope Bancorp from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 31st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on Hope Bancorp from $13.00 to $14.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 6th. DA Davidson raised their price target on Hope Bancorp from $14.50 to $15.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Brean Capital upgraded Hope Bancorp from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 1st. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Hope Bancorp from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Hope Bancorp has an average rating of “Hold” and an average 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.