Irene Oh Sells 500 Shares of East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) Stock

East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC) insider Irene Oh sold 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $132.50, for a total value of $66,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 85,498 shares in the company, valued at $11,328,485. This represents a 0.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link.

East West Bancorp Trading Up 1.9%

NASDAQ EWBC traded up $2.45 on Friday, reaching $132.63. The stock had a trading volume of 1,000,596 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,035,090. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.25, a P/E/G ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. East West Bancorp, Inc. has a 12-month low of $90.79 and a 12-month high of $132.88. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $120.86 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $115.47.

East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 21st. The financial services provider reported $2.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.46 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $773.75 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $767.80 million. East West Bancorp had a return on equity of 16.00% and a net margin of 29.59%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.08 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that East West Bancorp, Inc. will post 10.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

East West Bancorp Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 4th were given a dividend of $0.80 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 4th. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.4%. East West Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is currently 31.97%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On East West Bancorp

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. boosted its stake in East West Bancorp by 84,090.3% in the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 5,311,566 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $596,967,000 after acquiring an additional 5,305,257 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in East West Bancorp by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,981,065 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $559,822,000 after acquiring an additional 106,998 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP boosted its stake in East West Bancorp by 7.1% in the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 4,620,772 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $519,329,000 after acquiring an additional 306,916 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners boosted its stake in East West Bancorp by 19.6% in the third quarter. Boston Partners now owns 3,874,737 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $412,464,000 after acquiring an additional 633,649 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Schroder Investment Management Group boosted its stake in East West Bancorp by 9.4% in the fourth quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 3,713,679 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $423,619,000 after acquiring an additional 318,303 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.53% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the company. UBS Group upped their price objective on East West Bancorp from $125.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Citigroup upped their price objective on East West Bancorp from $139.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $133.00 price objective on shares of East West Bancorp in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Barclays cut their price objective on East West Bancorp from $150.00 to $142.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on East West Bancorp from $141.00 to $128.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 31st. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $133.69.

About East West Bancorp

East West Bancorp, Inc is a bank holding company and the parent of East West Bank, one of the largest independent banks headquartered in Southern California. As a full-service commercial bank, it provides a broad range of financial products and services to business and individual customers, including commercial and residential real estate lending, working capital lines of credit, trade finance, and deposit and treasury management services. The company caters to both large and middle-market businesses, leveraging its expertise to serve clients engaged in cross-border trade and investment between the United States and Greater China.

Founded in Los Angeles in the early 1970s, East West Bank has grown steadily through organic expansion and strategic branch openings.