Hanmi Financial Co. (NASDAQ:HAFC) Short Interest Update

Hanmi Financial Co. (NASDAQ:HAFC) was the target of a large drop in short interest during the month of November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 612,000 shares, a drop of 7.7% from the November 15th total of 662,900 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 198,300 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.1 days. Approximately 2.1% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Institutional Trading of Hanmi Financial

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Hanmi Financial by 32.2% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,072,772 shares of the bank’s stock worth $17,937,000 after acquiring an additional 261,545 shares in the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Hanmi Financial by 71.8% during the second quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 482,698 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $8,070,000 after purchasing an additional 201,789 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of Hanmi Financial by 26.1% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 879,979 shares of the bank’s stock worth $16,368,000 after purchasing an additional 182,164 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can purchased a new stake in shares of Hanmi Financial in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $2,979,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in Hanmi Financial by 66.5% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 395,244 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $7,352,000 after buying an additional 157,792 shares in the last quarter. 88.66% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

HAFC has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Wedbush reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $21.00 price objective on shares of Hanmi Financial in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Piper Sandler raised Hanmi Financial from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the company from $20.00 to $25.50 in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Janney Montgomery Scott upgraded Hanmi Financial from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. DA Davidson boosted their target price on Hanmi Financial from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and issued a $29.00 price target (up previously from $24.00) on shares of Hanmi Financial in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $24.38.

Hanmi Financial Stock Performance

Shares of HAFC opened at $25.44 on Wednesday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $23.95 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $20.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 0.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $768.19 million, a PE ratio of 12.23 and a beta of 0.87. Hanmi Financial has a one year low of $14.45 and a one year high of $27.59.

Hanmi Financial (NASDAQ:HAFC) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The bank reported $0.49 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49. Hanmi Financial had a return on equity of 8.87% and a net margin of 14.80%. The company had revenue of $108.86 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $59.23 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.62 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Hanmi Financial will post 2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hanmi Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 20th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 4th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.93%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 4th. Hanmi Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 48.08%.

About Hanmi Financial

Hanmi Financial Corporation operates as the holding company for Hanmi Bank that provides business banking products and services in the United States. It offers various deposit products, including noninterest-bearing checking accounts, savings accounts, negotiable order of withdrawal accounts, money market accounts, and certificates of deposit.