East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC) Receives $102.25 Average PT from Analysts

East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC) has been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twelve research firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation and eleven have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $103.50.

EWBC has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of East West Bancorp from $103.00 to $106.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Citigroup lifted their target price on East West Bancorp from $103.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. StockNews.com raised East West Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. DA Davidson lifted their price target on East West Bancorp from $100.00 to $107.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Stephens increased their price objective on East West Bancorp from $91.00 to $104.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th.

Insider Transactions at East West Bancorp

In other news, Vice Chairman Douglas Paul Krause sold 12,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.61, for a total value of $1,279,320.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 45,403 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,840,413.83. This trade represents a 20.90 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Molly Campbell sold 1,500 shares of East West Bancorp stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.65, for a total value of $147,975.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 10,639 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,049,537.35. This trade represents a 12.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 23,969 shares of company stock worth $2,458,276. Company insiders own 1.04% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of East West Bancorp

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new stake in shares of East West Bancorp in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new stake in East West Bancorp in the third quarter valued at $26,000. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. purchased a new position in shares of East West Bancorp in the second quarter valued at $30,000. UMB Bank n.a. raised its stake in shares of East West Bancorp by 362.8% during the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 361 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 283 shares during the last quarter. Finally, American Capital Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in shares of East West Bancorp in the 2nd quarter worth about $31,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.53% of the company’s stock.

East West Bancorp Trading Down 0.9 %

NASDAQ:EWBC opened at $107.01 on Friday. East West Bancorp has a 1 year low of $65.35 and a 1 year high of $113.95. The stock has a market cap of $14.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.51, a P/E/G ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 0.92. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $96.28 and a 200-day simple moving average of $84.14.

East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.06 by $0.03. East West Bancorp had a return on equity of 16.07% and a net margin of 24.96%. The firm had revenue of $1.16 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $641.80 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.02 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that East West Bancorp will post 8.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

East West Bancorp Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 4th were given a dividend of $0.55 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 4th. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.06%. East West Bancorp’s payout ratio is currently 27.78%.

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.