East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research report sent to investors on Saturday.

EWBC has been the subject of several other research reports. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of East West Bancorp in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of East West Bancorp from $100.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, September 8th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of East West Bancorp from $140.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Cantor Fitzgerald started coverage on shares of East West Bancorp in a research report on Wednesday, September 10th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $124.00 price target for the company. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of East West Bancorp from $100.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, East West Bancorp currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $121.33.

East West Bancorp Stock Up 1.9%

EWBC stock opened at $101.18 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.89. East West Bancorp has a 1-year low of $68.27 and a 1-year high of $113.95. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $105.03 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $97.11. The firm has a market cap of $13.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.82, a PEG ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 0.93.

East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, December 11th. The financial services provider reported $2.08 EPS for the quarter. The business had revenue of $627.36 million during the quarter. East West Bancorp had a net margin of 26.06% and a return on equity of 15.09%. Research analysts predict that East West Bancorp will post 8.85 EPS for the current year.

East West Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Investors of record on Monday, August 4th were issued a $0.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 4th. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.4%. East West Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is presently 28.04%.

Insider Activity at East West Bancorp

In related news, Director Jack C. Liu sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.00, for a total value of $105,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 14,974 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,572,270. This represents a 6.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Irene H. Oh sold 7,639 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $109.40, for a total transaction of $835,706.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 105,714 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,565,111.60. The trade was a 6.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 70,240 shares of company stock worth $7,379,678. 1.04% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On East West Bancorp

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of EWBC. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in East West Bancorp by 126.8% in the 1st quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,277 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $113,000 after acquiring an additional 714 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in East West Bancorp by 16.5% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,094 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $367,000 after acquiring an additional 580 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its holdings in East West Bancorp by 470.9% in the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 7,559 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $678,000 after acquiring an additional 6,235 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its holdings in East West Bancorp by 689.5% in the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 13,847 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,243,000 after acquiring an additional 12,093 shares during the last quarter. Finally, NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC raised its holdings in East West Bancorp by 0.7% during the 1st quarter. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC now owns 21,271 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,909,000 after buying an additional 139 shares during the period. 89.53% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About East West Bancorp

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.