East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) Research Coverage Started at UBS Group

UBS Group began coverage on shares of East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) in a research report released on Tuesday morning, Marketbeat reports. The brokerage issued a neutral rating and a $112.00 price objective on the financial services provider’s stock.

Several other analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. DA Davidson boosted their target price on shares of East West Bancorp from $100.00 to $107.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Stephens lowered East West Bancorp from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. StockNews.com raised East West Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Barclays lifted their target price on East West Bancorp from $110.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price target on shares of East West Bancorp from $103.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, East West Bancorp presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $109.77.

East West Bancorp Trading Down 0.2 %

NASDAQ:EWBC opened at $94.87 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $101.07 and a 200 day simple moving average of $86.33. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 1.28. East West Bancorp has a 1-year low of $67.27 and a 1-year high of $113.95. The company has a quick ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46.

East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.09 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.06 by $0.03. East West Bancorp had a net margin of 24.96% and a return on equity of 16.07%. The company had revenue of $1.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $641.80 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.02 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that East West Bancorp will post 8.39 earnings per share for the current year.

East West Bancorp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 4th were issued 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 dividend yield of 2.32%. East West Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is currently 27.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Vice Chairman Douglas Paul Krause sold 12,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at approximately $4,840,413.83. The trade was a 20.90 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Rudolph Estrada sold 469 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.04, for a total transaction of $45,980.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 17,750 shares in the company, valued at $1,740,210. The trade was a 2.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 23,969 shares of company stock worth $2,458,276. Corporate insiders own 1.04% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On East West Bancorp

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of EWBC. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new position in shares of East West Bancorp during the 3rd quarter worth about $25,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new position in East West Bancorp in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. acquired a new position in shares of East West Bancorp during the second quarter worth approximately $30,000. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its position in shares of East West Bancorp by 362.8% in the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 361 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 283 shares during the period. Finally, American Capital Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in shares of East West Bancorp in the second quarter worth $31,000. 89.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

East West Bancorp Company Profile

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.