StockNews.com Upgrades Pacific Premier Bancorp (NASDAQ:PPBI) to Sell

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Pacific Premier Bancorp (NASDAQ:PPBI) to a sell rating in a research report released on Tuesday.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. Stephens reiterated an equal weight rating and issued a $28.00 target price on shares of Pacific Premier Bancorp in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. TheStreet cut Pacific Premier Bancorp from a b- rating to a c+ rating in a research note on Monday, January 29th. Raymond James restated an outperform rating and set a $29.00 price objective (up from $26.00) on shares of Pacific Premier Bancorp in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. Finally, Wedbush decreased their price objective on Pacific Premier Bancorp from $31.00 to $30.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $27.17.

Pacific Premier Bancorp Stock Performance

Shares of Pacific Premier Bancorp stock opened at $22.16 on Tuesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $23.02 and its two-hundred day moving average is $24.10. The company has a market capitalization of $2.12 billion, a PE ratio of 170.47 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a quick ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. Pacific Premier Bancorp has a 52 week low of $17.53 and a 52 week high of $30.13.

Pacific Premier Bancorp (NASDAQ:PPBI) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.49 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.01. Pacific Premier Bancorp had a return on equity of 6.92% and a net margin of 24.75%. The business had revenue of $239.21 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $166.98 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.66 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Pacific Premier Bancorp will post 1.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Pacific Premier Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 13th. Investors of record on Monday, May 6th will be given a dividend of $0.33 per share. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.96%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 3rd. Pacific Premier Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is currently 1,015.46%.

Insider Activity at Pacific Premier Bancorp

In other news, Director Barbara Polsky acquired 1,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 21st. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $23.92 per share, with a total value of $28,704.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 14,507 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $347,007.44. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 2.21% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Pacific Premier Bancorp by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 11,316,980 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $329,437,000 after purchasing an additional 65,694 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Pacific Premier Bancorp by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,067,760 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $147,527,000 after purchasing an additional 131,448 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 198,874 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its holdings in Pacific Premier Bancorp by 9.1% during the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,486,456 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $72,381,000 after acquiring an additional 207,901 shares during the period. Finally, Brown Advisory Inc. raised its position in Pacific Premier Bancorp by 4.0% during the third quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 1,709,458 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $37,198,000 after acquiring an additional 66,113 shares in the last quarter. 93.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.