Short Interest in Hope Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:HOPE) Rises By 8.5%

Hope Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:HOPE) was the target of a large increase in short interest in January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,290,000 shares, an increase of 8.5% from the December 31st total of 2,110,000 shares. Approximately 2.0% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 724,900 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.2 days.

Insider Transactions at Hope Bancorp

In other Hope Bancorp news, EVP Thomas Stenger sold 4,185 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.83, for a total value of $49,508.55. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 19,267 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $227,928.61. This represents a 17.84 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Steven Koh sold 96,620 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $13.33, for a total value of $1,287,944.60. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 3,167,023 shares in the company, valued at approximately $42,216,416.59. This trade represents a 2.96 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 133,409 shares of company stock valued at $1,787,381. Corporate insiders own 5.29% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Hope Bancorp

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in shares of Hope Bancorp by 30.1% during the third 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 in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in Hope Bancorp by 47.0% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,055,151 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $12,968,000 after acquiring an additional 337,599 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC grew its stake in Hope Bancorp by 109.9% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 253,437 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,183,000 after acquiring an additional 132,677 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Hope Bancorp by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,152,656 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $77,277,000 after acquiring an additional 112,824 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in Hope Bancorp by 12.0% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 893,172 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $11,218,000 after purchasing an additional 95,570 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.00% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on HOPE shares. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on shares of Hope Bancorp from $13.00 to $12.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. DA Davidson dropped their price objective on shares of Hope Bancorp from $15.50 to $14.50 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Hope Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Hope Bancorp currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $12.88.

Hope Bancorp Trading Down 2.1 %

Hope Bancorp stock opened at $11.42 on Tuesday. Hope Bancorp has a 12 month low of $9.80 and a 12 month high of $14.53. The company has a current ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $12.50 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $12.63. The company has a market capitalization of $1.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.93 and a beta of 1.15.

Hope Bancorp (NASDAQ:HOPE) last released its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The financial services provider reported $0.20 EPS for the quarter, topping 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%. As a group, equities analysts predict that Hope Bancorp will post 1.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hope Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 20th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 6th will be issued a $0.14 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 6th. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.90%. Hope Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio 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.