East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the thirteen analysts that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and eight have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $107.85.

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on EWBC shares. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of East West Bancorp from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on East West Bancorp in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $115.00 price target for the company. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on East West Bancorp from $120.00 to $100.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Truist Financial assumed coverage on East West Bancorp in a research note on Tuesday, May 13th. They set a “hold” rating and a $102.00 target price for the company. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of East West Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Dominic Ng sold 40,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.43, for a total value of $3,857,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 928,314 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $89,517,319.02. The trade was a 4.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Lisa L. Kim sold 2,100 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $95.04, for a total transaction of $199,584.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 14,849 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,411,248.96. The trade was a 12.39% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 61,919 shares of company stock valued at $5,840,494 over the last ninety days. 1.04% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On East West Bancorp

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of East West Bancorp in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Picton Mahoney Asset Management lifted its position in East West Bancorp by 1,971.4% during the first quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management now owns 290 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 276 shares during the period. WPG Advisers LLC bought a new stake in East West Bancorp during the first quarter worth about $28,000. SVB Wealth LLC bought a new stake in East West Bancorp during the first quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, Venturi Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in East West Bancorp by 73.2% during the fourth quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 414 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 175 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 89.53% of the company’s stock.

East West Bancorp Stock Performance

Shares of EWBC opened at $92.57 on Tuesday. East West Bancorp has a one year low of $68.27 and a one year high of $113.95. The company has a 50-day moving average of $87.69 and a two-hundred day moving average of $92.71. The stock has a market cap of $12.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.11, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.92.

East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.09 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.05 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $693.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $673.02 million. East West Bancorp had a net margin of 25.73% and a return on equity of 15.71%. On average, equities research analysts expect that East West Bancorp will post 8.85 earnings per share for the current year.

East West Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 2nd were given a dividend of $0.60 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 2nd. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.59%. East West Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 28.64%.

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.