East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) Releases Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.08 EPS

East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday. The financial services provider reported $2.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.00 by $0.08, RTT News reports. The company had revenue of $644.13 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $636.77 million. East West Bancorp had a net margin of 29.11% and a return on equity of 18.47%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.32 earnings per share.

East West Bancorp Stock Performance

East West Bancorp stock opened at $75.30 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02. The firm has a market cap of $10.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.21, a P/E/G ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 1.39. East West Bancorp has a 1-year low of $41.12 and a 1-year high of $79.54. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $74.58 and a 200-day moving average of $68.28.

East West Bancorp Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 17th. Investors of record on Friday, May 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.55 per share. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.92%. East West Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is currently 26.89%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have issued reports on EWBC. Piper Sandler increased their target price on East West Bancorp from $72.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Compass Point raised their target price on East West Bancorp from $83.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $90.00 price target on shares of East West Bancorp in a research report on Wednesday. Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of East West Bancorp from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 1st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on shares of East West Bancorp from $86.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $83.75.

Insider Activity at East West Bancorp

In other news, Director Jack C. Liu sold 2,000 shares of East West Bancorp stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.58, for a total value of $147,160.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 16,739 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,231,655.62. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, Director Jack C. Liu sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.58, for a total value of $147,160.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 16,739 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,231,655.62. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Molly Campbell sold 1,625 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.26, for a total transaction of $125,547.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 10,321 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $797,400.46. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.91% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.