Hope Bancorp inches up after bond portfolio rejig

Hope Bancorp

17/06/2025 16:56

** Korean-American bank Hope Bancorp's HOPE.O shares rise as much as 0.6%; last up 0.2% at $10.07

** HOPE sells part of its investment securities portfolio to boost profitability

** Bank sold $422 million of lower-yielding investment securities and redeployed the proceeds into higher-yielding paper

** Repositioning expected to boost interest income by about $12 million annually and result in a pre-tax net loss on sales of securities of about $40 million, which will be recorded in Q2 2025

** Brokerage Piper Sandler applauds the loss trade, says it is not surprised to see the repositioning as the bank looks to support interest income growth forecast for 2025

** 1 of 4 brokerages rate the stock "buy" and 3 "hold"; median PT $11.50 - data compiled by LSEG

** As of last close, HOPE shares down 18.2% YTD

(Reporting by Arasu Kannagi Basil in Bengaluru)

((ArasuKannagi.Basil@thomsonreuters.com;))