East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC) Receives $89.53 Consensus PT from Analysts

Shares of East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC) have earned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the fourteen research firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation and thirteen have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $89.33.

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Barclays reduced their target price on East West Bancorp from $106.00 to $105.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, June 24th. Wedbush lifted their target price on East West Bancorp from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on East West Bancorp from $94.00 to $85.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 3rd. Piper Sandler raised their price target on shares of East West Bancorp from $72.50 to $92.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of East West Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Rudolph Estrada sold 1,896 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.77, for a total value of $166,411.92. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 18,470 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,621,111.90. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, Director Rudolph Estrada sold 1,896 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, July 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.77, for a total value of $166,411.92. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 18,470 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,621,111.90. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Gary Teo sold 3,450 shares of East West Bancorp stock in a transaction on Friday, July 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.73, for a total transaction of $302,668.50. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 15,875 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,392,713.75. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 13,346 shares of company stock worth $1,108,160 over the last 90 days. 1.04% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of East West Bancorp

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of EWBC. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY acquired a new stake in shares of East West Bancorp in the first quarter valued at approximately $39,347,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of East West Bancorp in the 1st quarter worth $3,961,000. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of East West Bancorp during the 2nd quarter worth $3,832,000. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC boosted its position in shares of East West Bancorp by 193.3% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 17,005 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,224,000 after acquiring an additional 11,208 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company MN grew its holdings in shares of East West Bancorp by 14.0% in the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 377,176 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $27,138,000 after purchasing an additional 46,416 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.53% of the company’s stock.

East West Bancorp Price Performance

Shares of EWBC stock opened at $82.57 on Friday. East West Bancorp has a fifty-two week low of $49.59 and a fifty-two week high of $89.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 0.92. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.40, a PEG ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 1.29. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $81.35 and its 200-day simple moving average is $76.89.

East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.07 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.97 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $638.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $631.61 million. East West Bancorp had a net margin of 25.40% and a return on equity of 16.64%. East West Bancorp’s revenue was down .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.20 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that East West Bancorp will post 8.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

East West Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 2nd were issued a dividend of $0.55 per share. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 2nd. East West Bancorp’s payout ratio is 27.71%.

About East West Bancorp

East West Bancorp, Inc operates as the bank holding company for East West Bank that provides a range of personal and commercial banking services to businesses and individuals in the United States. The company operates through three segments: Consumer and Business Banking, Commercial Banking, and Other.