Hanmi Financial Co. (NASDAQ:HAFC) Short Interest Up 53.8% in November

Hanmi Financial Co. (NASDAQ:HAFC) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest in the month of November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 662,900 shares, a growth of 53.8% from the October 31st total of 431,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 197,900 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.3 days. Currently, 2.2% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Hanmi Financial Trading Down 1.1 %

NASDAQ:HAFC traded down $0.30 on Friday, reaching $26.45. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 111,308 shares, compared to its average volume of 192,647. Hanmi Financial has a 12-month low of $14.45 and a 12-month high of $27.59. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $22.33 and a 200 day moving average price of $19.29. The firm has a market cap of $798.79 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.72 and a beta of 0.84.

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

Hanmi Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 20th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 4th were issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 4th. Hanmi Financial’s payout ratio is currently 48.08%.

Institutional Trading of Hanmi Financial

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on HAFC. Wedbush restated a “neutral” rating and set a $21.00 price objective on shares of Hanmi Financial in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. DA Davidson raised their target price on Hanmi Financial from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Janney Montgomery Scott raised Hanmi Financial from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Piper Sandler upgraded Hanmi Financial from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the company from $20.00 to $25.50 in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded Hanmi Financial from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the company from $20.00 to $22.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Hanmi Financial has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $22.63.

Hanmi Financial Company Profile

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.