Short Interest in Pacific Premier Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:PPBI) Drops By 13.0%

Pacific Premier Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:PPBI) was the recipient of a large decline in short interest in June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,740,000 shares, a decline of 13.0% from the May 31st total of 2,000,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 497,100 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.5 days. Approximately 1.9% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. StockNews.com raised shares of Pacific Premier Bancorp to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, May 17th. Piper Sandler cut their price target on shares of Pacific Premier Bancorp from $31.00 to $26.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 29th. Wedbush reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $25.00 price target on shares of Pacific Premier Bancorp in a report on Wednesday, May 22nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on shares of Pacific Premier Bancorp from $29.00 to $27.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, Raymond James reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $25.00 target price (down previously from $29.00) on shares of Pacific Premier Bancorp in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Pacific Premier Bancorp has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $26.33.

Pacific Premier Bancorp Trading Up 2.7 %

Shares of PPBI stock opened at $22.97 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $22.14 and its 200-day moving average price is $24.16. The company has a current ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The stock has a market cap of $2.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 176.69 and a beta of 1.24. Pacific Premier Bancorp has a twelve month low of $17.86 and a twelve month high of $30.13.

Pacific Premier Bancorp (NASDAQ:PPBI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.49 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $239.21 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $166.98 million. Pacific Premier Bancorp had a net margin of 24.75% and a return on equity of 6.92%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.66 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Pacific Premier Bancorp will post 1.78 earnings per share for the current year.

Pacific Premier Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 6th were given a dividend of $0.33 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 3rd. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.75%. Pacific Premier Bancorp’s payout ratio is 1,015.38%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Lori R. Wright sold 4,668 shares of Pacific Premier Bancorp stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.59, for a total transaction of $110,118.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 31,259 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $737,399.81. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 2.21% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of PPBI. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in Pacific Premier Bancorp by 5.0% in the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 4,153,813 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $90,387,000 after buying an additional 198,874 shares during the last quarter. EJF Capital LLC acquired a new position in Pacific Premier Bancorp in the third quarter valued at about $1,632,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC lifted its position in Pacific Premier Bancorp by 1,193.1% in the fourth quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 223,429 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,558,000 after buying an additional 206,150 shares during the last quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Pacific Premier Bancorp by 62.3% in the fourth quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 115,734 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,369,000 after buying an additional 44,437 shares during the last quarter. Finally, TFO Wealth Partners LLC lifted its position in Pacific Premier Bancorp by 172,950.0% in the fourth quarter. TFO Wealth Partners LLC now owns 24,227 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $705,000 after buying an additional 24,213 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.11% of the company’s stock.

About Pacific Premier Bancorp

Pacific Premier Bancorp, Inc operates as the bank holding company for Pacific Premier Bank that provides various banking products and services in the United States. The company accepts deposit products, which includes checking, money market, savings accounts, and certificates of deposit. Its loan portfolio includes commercial real estate owner and non-owner-occupied, multifamily, construction and land, franchise real estate secured, and small business administration (SBA); revolving lines of credit, term loans, seasonal loans, and loans secured by liquid collateral; one-to-four family and home equity lines of credit loans; and small balance personal unsecured loans and savings account secured loans.