Pacific Premier Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:PPBI) Short Interest Update

Pacific Premier Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:PPBI) was the target of a significant drop in short interest in the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,600,000 shares, a drop of 21.6% from the October 15th total of 2,040,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 544,200 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.9 days. Approximately 1.7% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Raymond James upped their price objective on Pacific Premier Bancorp from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Wedbush dropped their target price on Pacific Premier Bancorp from $27.00 to $25.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Stephens raised their target price on Pacific Premier Bancorp from $25.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $26.50.

Pacific Premier Bancorp Price Performance

Shares of Pacific Premier Bancorp stock traded up $0.09 on Friday, hitting $27.75. 599,621 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 548,413. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.68 billion, a P/E ratio of -184.99 and a beta of 1.21. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $25.62 and a 200 day simple moving average of $24.35. Pacific Premier Bancorp has a 52 week low of $20.52 and a 52 week high of $30.13.

Pacific Premier Bancorp (NASDAQ:PPBI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.37 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $224.49 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $153.23 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.48 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Pacific Premier Bancorp will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Pacific Premier Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, November 12th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 4th were paid a dividend of $0.33 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 4th. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.76%. Pacific Premier Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is currently -879.94%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO Edward Earl Wilcox sold 30,499 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.63, for a total value of $720,691.37. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 230,592 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,448,888.96. The trade was a 11.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Margaret S. Ohlhaver sold 9,273 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.96, for a total transaction of $259,273.08. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 25,475 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $712,281. This represents a 26.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 51,023 shares of company stock worth $1,245,713. 2.21% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Pacific Premier Bancorp

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of PPBI. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its stake in Pacific Premier Bancorp by 77.3% in the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 47,301 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,135,000 after acquiring an additional 20,619 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its holdings in shares of Pacific Premier Bancorp by 15.9% in the first quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 11,543 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $277,000 after purchasing an additional 1,580 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Pacific Premier Bancorp by 7.4% during the 1st quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 19,159 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $460,000 after acquiring an additional 1,315 shares during the period. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. raised its holdings in shares of Pacific Premier Bancorp by 30.9% during the first quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 415,479 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $9,971,000 after purchasing an additional 98,139 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Edgestream Partners L.P. purchased a new stake in Pacific Premier Bancorp in the first quarter valued at $766,000. 93.11% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.