East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) Coverage Initiated by Analysts at Truist Financial

Truist Financial initiated coverage on shares of East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) in a report released on Tuesday morning, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The firm issued a hold rating and a $102.00 price objective on the financial services provider’s stock.

Other equities research analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of East West Bancorp from $120.00 to $100.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Piper Sandler cut their price target on shares of East West Bancorp from $100.00 to $97.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 27th. DA Davidson cut their price target on shares of East West Bancorp from $118.00 to $100.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Morgan Stanley lowered shares of East West Bancorp from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $118.00 to $90.00 in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of East West Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, March 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $105.54.

East West Bancorp Price Performance

Shares of EWBC opened at $96.00 on Tuesday. East West Bancorp has a twelve month low of $68.27 and a twelve month high of $113.95. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $84.29 and its 200-day simple moving average is $94.66. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.52, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46.

East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.09 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.05 by $0.04. East West Bancorp had a net margin of 25.73% and a return on equity of 15.71%. The business had revenue of $693.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $673.02 million. Equities analysts forecast that East West Bancorp will post 8.85 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 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 2nd will be paid a $0.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 2nd. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.50%. East West Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is presently 28.64%.

Insider Buying and Selling at East West Bancorp

In other news, CEO Dominic Ng sold 20,181 shares of East West Bancorp stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.01, for a total value of $1,816,491.81. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 988,133 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $88,941,851.33. The trade was a 2.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 100,181 shares of company stock worth $9,273,894. 1.04% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of East West Bancorp

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in EWBC. Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in shares of East West Bancorp by 12.2% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 145,310 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $12,023,000 after acquiring an additional 15,829 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in East West Bancorp by 21.9% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 42,552 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,800,000 after buying an additional 7,645 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in East West Bancorp by 5.6% during the fourth quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 4,611 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $442,000 after buying an additional 245 shares in the last quarter. Wedmont Private Capital boosted its holdings in East West Bancorp by 6.9% during the fourth quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 4,511 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $422,000 after buying an additional 292 shares in the last quarter. Finally, 180 Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in East West Bancorp by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. 180 Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 11,617 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,112,000 after buying an additional 143 shares in the last quarter. 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.