SG Americas Securities LLC Buys 42,456 Shares of Hope Bancorp, Inc. $HOPE

SG Americas Securities LLC grew its position in shares of Hope Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:HOPE) by 83.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 93,360 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 42,456 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC’s holdings in Hope Bancorp were worth $1,043,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Hsbc Holdings PLC bought a new position in Hope Bancorp during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $595,000. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. increased its stake in Hope Bancorp by 375.1% in the 4th quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 3,625 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 2,862 shares during the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC raised its holdings in shares of Hope Bancorp by 5.1% during the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 22,218 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $244,000 after acquiring an additional 1,074 shares in the last quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV raised its holdings in shares of Hope Bancorp by 12.9% during the 4th quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 23,384 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $256,000 after acquiring an additional 2,672 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Man Group plc boosted its position in shares of Hope Bancorp by 76.7% during the 4th quarter. Man Group plc now owns 25,532 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $280,000 after acquiring an additional 11,082 shares during the last quarter. 84.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on HOPE shares. Brean Capital raised shares of Hope Bancorp from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 1st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of Hope Bancorp from $13.00 to $14.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 6th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Hope Bancorp from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 31st. DA Davidson lifted their price objective on shares of Hope Bancorp from $14.50 to $15.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Hope Bancorp from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 26th. Two 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, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $14.50.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Daisy Y. 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 sale, the director owned 373,115 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,675,130.95. This represents a 3.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 2.27% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hope Bancorp Price Performance

Shares of Hope Bancorp stock opened at $13.58 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $1.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.12 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 0.96. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $12.71 and a 200-day moving average price of $12.01. Hope Bancorp, Inc. has a one year low of $9.44 and a one year high of $14.05.

Hope Bancorp (NASDAQ:HOPE) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The financial services provider reported $0.23 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.22 by $0.01. Hope Bancorp had a return on equity of 5.32% and a net margin of 6.56%.The firm had revenue of $133.82 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $145.30 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.17 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect 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 was paid on Friday, May 22nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 8th were given a dividend of $0.14 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 8th. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.1%. Hope Bancorp’s payout ratio is 107.69%.

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.