East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) Cut to Equal Weight at Stephens

Stephens cut shares of East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating in a research report report published on Monday, MarketBeat Ratings reports.

Several other analysts also recently commented on the stock. Truist Financial upped their price objective on shares of East West Bancorp from $93.00 to $101.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. StockNews.com raised shares of East West Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Compass Point lifted their price objective on East West Bancorp from $93.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Barclays upped their target price on East West Bancorp from $110.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Wedbush lifted their price target on East West Bancorp from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $107.92.

East West Bancorp Stock Down 2.4 %

East West Bancorp stock opened at $102.84 on Monday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $98.19 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $84.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 0.92. The company has a market cap of $14.26 billion, a PE ratio of 12.98, a PEG ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 1.28. East West Bancorp has a fifty-two week low of $67.03 and a fifty-two week high of $113.95.

East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.09 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.06 by $0.03. East West Bancorp had a return on equity of 16.07% and a net margin of 24.96%. The firm had revenue of $1.16 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $641.80 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.02 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that East West Bancorp will post 8.38 EPS for the current year.

East West Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Monday, November 4th were paid a $0.55 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 4th. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.14%. East West Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is currently 27.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Rudolph Estrada sold 469 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.04, for a total transaction of $45,980.76. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 17,750 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,740,210. The trade was a 2.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Vice Chairman Douglas Paul Krause sold 12,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.61, for a total value of $1,279,320.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 45,403 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,840,413.83. This represents a 20.90 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 23,969 shares of company stock valued at $2,458,276. 1.04% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On East West Bancorp

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Covestor Ltd lifted its stake in shares of East West Bancorp by 7.4% in the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,537 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $128,000 after buying an additional 106 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc raised its holdings in East West Bancorp by 2.8% in the 2nd quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 4,753 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $348,000 after acquiring an additional 128 shares during the last quarter. Lindenwold Advisors INC lifted its stake in East West Bancorp by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Lindenwold Advisors INC now owns 7,270 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $602,000 after purchasing an additional 129 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in shares of East West Bancorp by 3.8% during the 2nd quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 3,606 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $264,000 after purchasing an additional 133 shares during the last quarter. Finally, US Bancorp DE boosted its holdings in shares of East West Bancorp by 7.8% during the 3rd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 1,949 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $161,000 after purchasing an additional 141 shares during 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.