Walleye Capital LLC Acquires New Position in Hope Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:HOPE)

Walleye Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Hope Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:HOPE) in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 55,500 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $697,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in HOPE. nVerses Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Hope Bancorp during the third quarter valued at approximately $48,000. Fifth Third Bancorp grew its holdings in shares of Hope Bancorp by 149.5% during the second quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 5,279 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $57,000 after purchasing an additional 3,163 shares during the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP bought a new position in shares of Hope Bancorp during the third quarter valued at approximately $58,000. Choreo LLC bought a new position in shares of Hope Bancorp during the second quarter valued at approximately $108,000. Finally, AE Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Hope Bancorp during the second quarter valued at approximately $112,000. 84.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Angelee Harris sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $14.16, for a total transaction of $42,480.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 19,795 shares in the company, valued at approximately $280,297.20. This represents a 13.16 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Steven Koh sold 96,620 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $13.33, for a total value of $1,287,944.60. Following the sale, the director now owns 3,167,023 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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 90 days, insiders sold 129,224 shares of company stock worth $1,737,873. Insiders own 5.29% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, StockNews.com raised Hope Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday.

Hope Bancorp Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ HOPE opened at $13.45 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $13.09 and a 200-day simple moving average of $12.13. The company has a market cap of $1.62 billion, a PE ratio of 16.01 and a beta of 1.15. Hope Bancorp, Inc. has a 12-month low of $9.80 and a 12-month high of $14.53.

Hope Bancorp (NASDAQ:HOPE) last released its earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The financial services provider reported $0.21 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.22 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $246.92 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $121.67 million. Hope Bancorp had a return on equity of 5.52% and a net margin of 9.81%. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.25 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Hope Bancorp, Inc. will post 0.85 EPS for the current year.

Hope Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 21st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 7th were given a dividend of $0.14 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 7th. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.16%. Hope Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 66.67%.

Hope Bancorp Company Profile

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.