DA Davidson Upgrades Hope Bancorp (NASDAQ:HOPE) to Buy

Hope Bancorp (NASDAQ:HOPE) was upgraded by analysts at DA Davidson from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report issued on Tuesday, Briefing.com reports. The brokerage currently has a $12.50 target price on the financial services provider’s stock. DA Davidson’s target price points to a potential upside of 25.94% from the stock’s current price.

Several other equities analysts have also recently commented on HOPE. Wedbush reduced their price objective on shares of Hope Bancorp from $13.00 to $12.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Hope Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, January 6th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $11.83.

Hope Bancorp Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:HOPE opened at $9.93 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $10.92 and a 200 day moving average of $10.75. The stock has a market cap of $1.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.86 and a beta of 1.13. Hope Bancorp has a 12 month low of $7.42 and a 12 month high of $12.51. The company has a current ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90.

Hope Bancorp (NASDAQ:HOPE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 30th. The financial services provider reported $0.22 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.25 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $135.20 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $138.47 million. Hope Bancorp had a net margin of 12.19% and a return on equity of 7.03%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.43 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Hope Bancorp will post 1.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Hope Bancorp

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in HOPE. CWM LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Hope Bancorp by 39.1% in the 1st quarter. CWM LLC now owns 8,939 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $103,000 after acquiring an additional 2,513 shares during the last quarter. Drive Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Hope Bancorp during the 1st quarter valued at $116,000. QRG Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in Hope Bancorp during the 3rd quarter valued at $132,000. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC raised its holdings in Hope Bancorp by 8.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 12,814 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $155,000 after buying an additional 1,033 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its holdings in Hope Bancorp by 46.2% during the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 15,929 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $192,000 after buying an additional 5,034 shares during the last quarter. 84.00% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.