East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) Rating Reiterated by Wedbush

Wedbush reiterated their outperform rating on shares of East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) in a report released on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $90.00 price objective on the financial services provider’s stock.

EWBC has been the subject of several other reports. Piper Sandler lifted 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. Barclays initiated coverage on shares of East West Bancorp in a research note on Friday, March 8th. They issued an overweight rating and a $106.00 target price for the company. Truist Financial boosted their target price on shares of East West Bancorp from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Monday, April 1st. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price 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. Finally, Citigroup boosted their target price 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $84.38.

East West Bancorp Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ EWBC opened at $77.20 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02. East West Bancorp has a 12 month low of $41.12 and a 12 month high of $79.54. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $74.69 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $68.34. The stock has a market cap of $10.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.72, a PEG ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 1.39.

East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.08 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.00 by $0.08. East West Bancorp had a net margin of 26.78% and a return on equity of 17.66%. The business had revenue of $644.13 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $636.77 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.32 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that East West Bancorp will post 7.87 earnings per share for the current year.

East West Bancorp Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.55 per share. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.85%. East West Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is presently 27.71%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other East West Bancorp news, Director Molly Campbell sold 1,625 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 10,321 shares in the company, valued at $797,400.46. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, Director Molly Campbell sold 1,625 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the director now owns 10,321 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $797,400.46. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Jack C. Liu sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.58, for a total transaction of $147,160.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 16,739 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,231,655.62. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.04% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On East West Bancorp

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of EWBC. Riverview Trust Co purchased a new stake in shares of East West Bancorp during the first quarter worth $25,000. First Horizon Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of East West Bancorp by 65.1% in the third quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 535 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 211 shares during the period. Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda purchased a new stake in shares of East West Bancorp in the fourth quarter valued at about $29,000. Rise Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of East West Bancorp in the first quarter valued at about $30,000. Finally, Mather Group LLC. purchased a new stake in shares of East West Bancorp in the first quarter valued at about $35,000. 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.