East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC) has earned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the thirteen ratings firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and ten have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price target among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $111.31.

Several equities analysts recently commented on EWBC shares. Piper Sandler reduced their target price on East West Bancorp from $100.00 to $97.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of East West Bancorp from $127.00 to $118.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. DA Davidson dropped their target price on shares of East West Bancorp from $120.00 to $118.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on shares of East West Bancorp from $96.00 to $128.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Stephens downgraded shares of East West Bancorp from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th.

East West Bancorp Stock Up 2.3 %

EWBC opened at $90.75 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.28. East West Bancorp has a one year low of $68.78 and a one year high of $113.95. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $94.59 and a 200-day moving average price of $95.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.92.

East West Bancorp Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were given a dividend of $0.60 per share. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.64%. This is a positive change from East West Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 3rd. East West Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is presently 28.81%.

Insider Activity

In other East West Bancorp news, Director Jack C. Liu sold 1,275 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $104.53, for a total transaction of $133,275.75. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 14,557 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,521,643.21. This represents a 8.05 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Dominic Ng sold 20,181 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.01, for a total transaction of $1,816,491.81. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 988,133 shares in the company, valued at approximately $88,941,851.33. This trade represents a 2.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 62,181 shares of company stock valued at $5,625,732. 1.04% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of East West Bancorp

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in East West Bancorp in the fourth quarter worth $166,590,000. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its holdings in East West Bancorp by 1,667.7% in the fourth quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 670,156 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $64,174,000 after purchasing an additional 632,245 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners lifted its position in East West Bancorp by 23.1% during the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 2,383,284 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $228,269,000 after buying an additional 447,057 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of East West Bancorp by 17.0% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,018,504 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $289,052,000 after buying an additional 437,676 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of East West Bancorp during the 4th quarter valued at $32,138,000. 89.53% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.