Contrasting Lloyds Banking Group (NYSE:LYG) & Hope Bancorp (NASDAQ:HOPE)

Hope Bancorp (NASDAQ:HOPE) and Lloyds Banking Group (NYSE:LYG) are both finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, analyst recommendations, earnings, risk, dividends, profitability and institutional ownership.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

84.0% of Hope Bancorp shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 2.1% of Lloyds Banking Group shares are owned by institutional investors. 2.3% of Hope Bancorp shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.0% of Lloyds Banking Group shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Dividends

Hope Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.56 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.2%. Lloyds Banking Group pays an annual dividend of $0.17 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.4%. Hope Bancorp pays out 53.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Lloyds Banking Group pays out 32.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years.

Risk and Volatility

Hope Bancorp has a beta of 0.9, meaning that its stock price is 10% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Lloyds Banking Group has a beta of 0.91, meaning that its stock price is 9% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for Hope Bancorp and Lloyds Banking Group, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Hope Bancorp	0	4	2	0	2.33
Lloyds Banking Group	1	4	6	0	2.45

Hope Bancorp presently has a consensus price target of $14.50, indicating a potential upside of 9.77%. Lloyds Banking Group has a consensus price target of $6.00, indicating a potential upside of 20.00%. Given Lloyds Banking Group’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Lloyds Banking Group is more favorable than Hope Bancorp.

Profitability

This table compares Hope Bancorp and Lloyds Banking Group’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Hope Bancorp	12.90%	5.97%	0.72%
Lloyds Banking Group	28.13%	12.66%	0.61%

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Hope Bancorp and Lloyds Banking Group”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Hope Bancorp	$967.63 million	1.75	$61.59 million	$1.04	12.70
Lloyds Banking Group	$25.61 billion	2.81	$6.14 billion	$0.53	9.43

Lloyds Banking Group has higher revenue and earnings than Hope Bancorp. Lloyds Banking Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Hope Bancorp, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Lloyds Banking Group beats Hope Bancorp on 10 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

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. In addition, it provides internet banking and bill-pay, remote deposit capture, lock box, and ACH origination services; treasury management services; foreign currency exchange transactions; interest rate contracts and wealth management services; automated teller machine services; and engages in investment activities. Hope Bancorp, Inc. was founded in 1986 and is headquartered in Los Angeles, California.

About Lloyds Banking Group

Lloyds Banking Group plc, together with its subsidiaries, provides a range of banking and financial services in the United Kingdom and internationally. It operates in three segments: Retail; Commercial Banking; and Insurance, Pensions and Investments. The Retail segment offers a range of financial service products, including current accounts, savings, mortgages, motor finance, unsecured loans, leasing solutions, and credit cards to personal customers. The Commercial Banking segment provides lending, transactional banking, working capital management, risk management, and debt financing services to small and medium-sized entities, corporates, and institutions. The Insurance, Pensions, and Investments segment offers insurance, investment, and pension management products and services. It also provides digital banking services. The company offers its products and services under the Lloyds Bank, Halifax, Bank of Scotland, Scottish Widows, MBNA, Schroders Personal Wealth, Black Horse, Lex Autolease, Birmingham Midshires, LDC, AMC, Embark Group, Citra, IWeb, Cavendish Online, and Tusker brand names. Lloyds Banking Group plc was founded in 1695 and is headquartered in London, the United Kingdom.