Ieq Capital LLC Takes Position in Hope Bancorp, Inc. $HOPE

Ieq Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Hope Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:HOPE) in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 49,169 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $673,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of HOPE. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its position in Hope Bancorp by 9.0% in the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 11,647 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $128,000 after buying an additional 960 shares during the last quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. increased its position in shares of Hope Bancorp by 6.2% during the fourth quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 18,064 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $198,000 after acquiring an additional 1,051 shares during the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC raised its stake in shares of Hope Bancorp by 5.1% in the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 22,218 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $244,000 after acquiring an additional 1,074 shares during the period. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH raised its stake in shares of Hope Bancorp by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH now owns 269,046 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,950,000 after acquiring an additional 1,152 shares during the period. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its holdings in shares of Hope Bancorp by 2.8% in the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 60,053 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $644,000 after acquiring an additional 1,659 shares during the last quarter. 84.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. DA Davidson increased their price objective on shares of Hope Bancorp from $15.00 to $16.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 28th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Hope Bancorp from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 11th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on Hope Bancorp from $14.00 to $15.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $15.50.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Daisy Y. Ha sold 26,995 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $14.24, for a total transaction of $384,408.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 346,120 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,928,748.80. The trade was a 7.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 2.27% of the company’s stock.

Hope Bancorp Stock Up 0.1%

Shares of NASDAQ HOPE opened at $13.93 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $1.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.93 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. Hope Bancorp, Inc. has a 12-month low of $9.80 and a 12-month high of $14.59. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $13.78 and its 200-day simple moving average is $12.63.

Hope Bancorp (NASDAQ:HOPE) last released its earnings results on Monday, July 27th. The financial services provider reported $0.27 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.26 by $0.01. Hope Bancorp had a return on equity of 5.71% and a net margin of 12.53%.The firm had revenue of $147.82 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $146.50 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.22) EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Hope Bancorp, Inc. will post 1.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hope Bancorp Dividend Announcement

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

Hope Bancorp 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.