Azora Capital LP Takes Position in Pacific Premier Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:PPBI)

Azora Capital LP bought a new position in shares of Pacific Premier Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:PPBI) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm bought 484,396 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $12,187,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in Pacific Premier Bancorp by 121.5% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,183 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 649 shares during the last quarter. nVerses Capital LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Pacific Premier Bancorp by 93.8% in the 2nd quarter. nVerses Capital LLC now owns 3,100 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $71,000 after acquiring an additional 1,500 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV boosted its holdings in shares of Pacific Premier Bancorp by 30.0% in the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 3,679 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $93,000 after acquiring an additional 849 shares in the last quarter. Innealta Capital LLC bought a new stake in Pacific Premier Bancorp during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $95,000. Finally, FMR LLC increased its holdings in Pacific Premier Bancorp by 11.9% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,782 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $171,000 after purchasing an additional 723 shares in the last quarter. 93.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Pacific Premier Bancorp Price Performance

PPBI opened at $28.40 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.74 billion, a P/E ratio of -189.32 and a beta of 1.21. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $26.41 and its 200-day simple moving average is $24.75. Pacific Premier Bancorp, Inc. has a one year low of $20.52 and a one year high of $30.28.

Pacific Premier Bancorp (NASDAQ:PPBI) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $224.49 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $153.23 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.48 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Pacific Premier Bancorp, Inc. will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Pacific Premier Bancorp Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, November 12th. Investors of record on Monday, November 4th were issued a $0.33 dividend. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.65%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 4th. Pacific Premier Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is -879.94%.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Wedbush reduced their price objective on Pacific Premier Bancorp from $27.00 to $25.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 25th. One research 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $26.50.

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.