East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) Given New $140.00 Price Target at TD Cowen

East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) had its price target trimmed by TD Cowen from $141.00 to $140.00 in a report published on Monday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a buy rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

EWBC has been the subject of a number of other reports. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on East West Bancorp from $111.00 to $116.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of East West Bancorp in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Wall Street Zen upgraded East West Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, October 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on East West Bancorp from $131.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of East West Bancorp from $111.00 to $126.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Monday, September 29th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, East West Bancorp has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $128.21.

East West Bancorp Price Performance

EWBC opened at $113.52 on Monday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $112.18 and its 200 day moving average price is $106.87. East West Bancorp has a 12-month low of $68.27 and a 12-month high of $119.73. The firm has a market cap of $15.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.92, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34.

East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.52 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.48 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $754.92 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $745.04 million. East West Bancorp had a net margin of 28.36% and a return on equity of 15.72%. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.10 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that East West Bancorp will post 8.85 earnings per share for the current year.

East West Bancorp Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.80 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 2nd. This is an increase from East West Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.8%. East West Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is 25.21%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other East West Bancorp news, CEO Dominic Ng sold 30,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $113.63, for a total transaction of $3,408,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 858,314 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $97,530,219.82. This trade represents a 3.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Vice Chairman Douglas Paul Krause sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.04, for a total value of $1,000,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 45,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,551,820. The trade was a 18.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 73,344 shares of company stock worth $8,184,226. 1.04% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On East West Bancorp

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Foster Dykema Cabot & Partners LLC purchased a new stake in East West Bancorp in the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. Park Place Capital Corp purchased a new stake in shares of East West Bancorp in the second quarter valued at about $27,000. Chung Wu Investment Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of East West Bancorp during the second quarter worth about $30,000. Kelleher Financial Advisors acquired a new position in East West Bancorp in the 3rd quarter valued at about $31,000. Finally, Bayforest Capital Ltd raised its stake in East West Bancorp by 127.6% during the 2nd quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd now owns 346 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 194 shares during the last quarter. 89.53% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About East West Bancorp

East West Bancorp, Inc is a bank holding company and the parent of East West Bank, one of the largest independent banks headquartered in Southern California. As a full-service commercial bank, it provides a broad range of financial products and services to business and individual customers, including commercial and residential real estate lending, working capital lines of credit, trade finance, and deposit and treasury management services. The company caters to both large and middle-market businesses, leveraging its expertise to serve clients engaged in cross-border trade and investment between the United States and Greater China.

Founded in Los Angeles in the early 1970s, East West Bank has grown steadily through organic expansion and strategic branch openings.