Principal Financial Group Inc. Acquires 24,465 Shares of Hope Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:HOPE)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Hope Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:HOPE) by 3.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 699,108 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 24,465 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.58% of Hope Bancorp worth $7,320,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of HOPE. Sterling Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Hope Bancorp by 819.1% during the 4th quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 3,713 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 3,309 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV raised its position in shares of Hope Bancorp by 16.6% during the 1st quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 8,269 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $87,000 after buying an additional 1,176 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in Hope Bancorp during the 1st quarter valued at about $105,000. Cibc World Markets Corp bought a new position in Hope Bancorp during the 4th quarter valued at about $133,000. Finally, Algert Global LLC bought a new position in Hope Bancorp during the 4th quarter valued at about $135,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Hope Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, May 12th.

Hope Bancorp Trading Down 3.9%

NASDAQ HOPE opened at $11.21 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $10.55 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $10.73. The stock has a market cap of $1.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.37 and a beta of 0.90. Hope Bancorp, Inc. has a 12-month low of $8.83 and a 12-month high of $14.54. The company has a current ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10.

Hope Bancorp (NASDAQ:HOPE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The financial services provider reported $0.19 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.18 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $217.17 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $114.97 million. Hope Bancorp had a net margin of 9.82% and a return on equity of 4.60%. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.23 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Hope Bancorp, Inc. will post 1.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Hope Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 2nd were paid a dividend of $0.14 per share. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.00%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 2nd. Hope Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 71.79%.

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.