Pacific Premier Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:PPBI) Short Interest Up 16.8% in February

Pacific Premier Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:PPBI) was the target of a large increase in short interest during the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 1,530,000 shares, an increase of 16.8% from the February 13th total of 1,310,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 546,500 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.8 days. Approximately 1.6% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Pacific Premier Bancorp Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of Pacific Premier Bancorp stock traded down $0.15 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $21.99. The stock had a trading volume of 612,038 shares, compared to its average volume of 505,309. The firm has a market cap of $2.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.41 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $24.19 and a two-hundred day moving average of $25.36. Pacific Premier Bancorp has a 12-month low of $20.52 and a 12-month high of $30.28.

Pacific Premier Bancorp (NASDAQ:PPBI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.35 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.32 by $0.03. Pacific Premier Bancorp had a return on equity of 5.43% and a net margin of 17.54%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Pacific Premier Bancorp will post 1.34 earnings per share for the current year.

Pacific Premier Bancorp Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 10th. Investors of record on Monday, February 3rd were issued a $0.33 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.00%. Pacific Premier Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 80.49%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, DA Davidson reduced their price objective on Pacific Premier Bancorp from $33.00 to $30.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Pacific Premier Bancorp currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $27.00.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Pacific Premier Bancorp by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 11,241,494 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $280,138,000 after acquiring an additional 78,381 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its position in shares of Pacific Premier Bancorp by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,842,985 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $70,847,000 after purchasing an additional 74,644 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Pacific Premier Bancorp by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,303,222 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $57,960,000 after purchasing an additional 25,964 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in Pacific Premier Bancorp by 12.1% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,246,800 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $55,990,000 after purchasing an additional 241,881 shares during the period. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its position in Pacific Premier Bancorp by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 1,467,366 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $36,567,000 after purchasing an additional 7,465 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.11% of the company’s stock.

Pacific Premier Bancorp Company Profile

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.