East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) Insider Sells $106,552.00 in Stock

East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC) insider Irene Oh sold 800 shares of East West Bancorp stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $133.19, for a total value of $106,552.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 84,698 shares in the company, valued at $11,280,926.62. This represents a 0.94% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.

East West Bancorp Stock Down 0.3%

EWBC stock opened at $126.84 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.67, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.94. The business has a 50-day moving average of $122.88 and a 200-day moving average of $116.30. East West Bancorp, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $92.67 and a fifty-two week high of $136.00.

East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 21st. The financial services provider reported $2.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.46 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $773.75 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $767.80 million. East West Bancorp had a return on equity of 16.00% and a net margin of 29.59%.East West Bancorp’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.08 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that East West Bancorp, Inc. will post 10.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

East West Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 4th were paid a dividend of $0.80 per share. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 4th. East West Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 31.97%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On East West Bancorp

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in EWBC. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its stake in shares of East West Bancorp by 84,090.3% in the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 5,311,566 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $596,967,000 after buying an additional 5,305,257 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in East West Bancorp during the fourth quarter worth $199,529,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in East West Bancorp by 281.3% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,607,314 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $180,647,000 after acquiring an additional 1,185,781 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners lifted its stake in East West Bancorp by 19.6% in the third quarter. Boston Partners now owns 3,874,737 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $412,464,000 after acquiring an additional 633,649 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of East West Bancorp by 61.9% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,418,174 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $143,207,000 after acquiring an additional 542,149 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.53% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of East West Bancorp from $141.00 to $128.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 31st. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of East West Bancorp from $111.00 to $123.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of East West Bancorp from $139.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $133.00 price objective on shares of East West Bancorp in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Finally, TD Cowen raised their price objective on East West Bancorp from $137.00 to $143.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, East West Bancorp presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $133.69.

East West Bancorp Company Profile

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.