Brokerages Set East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC) Price Target at $83.15

Shares of East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the twelve analysts that are covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation and eleven have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $84.38.

Several equities analysts have recently commented on EWBC shares. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of East West Bancorp from $72.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of East West Bancorp from $76.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Barclays started coverage on shares of East West Bancorp in a research note on Friday, March 8th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $106.00 price objective for the company. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of East West Bancorp from $85.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. Finally, Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $90.00 price target on shares of East West Bancorp in a research note on Wednesday.

East West Bancorp Stock Up 2.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ:EWBC opened at $77.20 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $74.69 and a 200 day moving average of $68.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 0.91. East West Bancorp has a 52-week low of $41.12 and a 52-week high of $79.54. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.74 billion, a PE ratio of 9.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 1.39.

East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.00 by $0.08. East West Bancorp had a net margin of 29.11% and a return on equity of 18.47%. The business had revenue of $644.13 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $636.77 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.32 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that East West Bancorp will post 7.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

East West Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 3rd will be issued a $0.55 dividend. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.85%. East West Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.89%.

Insider Activity

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On East West Bancorp

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in EWBC. CWM LLC boosted its holdings in East West Bancorp by 22.8% in the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,825 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $96,000 after purchasing an additional 339 shares during the last quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp boosted its holdings in East West Bancorp by 0.5% in the third quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 727,535 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $38,348,000 after purchasing an additional 3,302 shares during the last quarter. Palouse Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of East West Bancorp by 21.2% during the 3rd quarter. Palouse Capital Management Inc. now owns 27,422 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,445,000 after acquiring an additional 4,795 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of East West Bancorp by 17.7% during the 3rd quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 5,042 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $266,000 after acquiring an additional 759 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JB Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of East West Bancorp in the 3rd quarter worth $765,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.53% of the company’s stock.

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.