Insider Selling: East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) Insider Sells $1,446,219.00 in Stock

East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC) insider Irene Oh sold 11,211 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $129.00, for a total value of $1,446,219.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 85,998 shares in the company, valued at $11,093,742. The trade was a 11.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink.

East West Bancorp Price Performance

NASDAQ EWBC opened at $132.63 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $121.33 and its 200-day moving average price is $115.59. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.25, a PEG ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.88. East West Bancorp, Inc. has a 1-year low of $90.79 and a 1-year high of $132.88.

East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 21st. The financial services provider reported $2.57 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.46 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $773.75 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $767.80 million. East West Bancorp had a return on equity of 16.00% and a net margin of 29.59%.The company’s revenue was up 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.08 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that East West Bancorp, Inc. will post 10.6 earnings per share for the current 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 paid a $0.80 dividend. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 4th. East West Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is 31.97%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on East West Bancorp from $141.00 to $128.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 31st. Barclays reduced their price objective on East West Bancorp from $150.00 to $142.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 7th. 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 note on Wednesday, April 22nd. DA Davidson upped their price objective on East West Bancorp from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Finally, TD Cowen upped their price objective on East West Bancorp from $137.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, East West Bancorp currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $133.69.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On East West Bancorp

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its stake in East West Bancorp by 84,090.3% in the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 5,311,566 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $596,967,000 after buying an additional 5,305,257 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in East West Bancorp by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,981,065 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $559,822,000 after buying an additional 106,998 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP grew its position in shares of East West Bancorp by 7.1% during 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 purchasing an additional 306,916 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners grew its position in shares of East West Bancorp by 19.6% during the third quarter. Boston Partners now owns 3,874,737 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $412,464,000 after purchasing an additional 633,649 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Schroder Investment Management Group grew its position in shares of East West Bancorp by 9.4% during 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 purchasing an additional 318,303 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.53% of the company’s stock.

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.