East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC) Receives $105.46 Average Target Price from Brokerages

East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC - Get Free Report) has earned an average rating of "Moderate Buy" from the thirteen ratings firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and nine have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $105.46.

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on EWBC. Morgan Stanley cut shares of East West Bancorp from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $118.00 to $90.00 in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of East West Bancorp from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of East West Bancorp from $120.00 to $100.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. DA Davidson lowered their target price on East West Bancorp from $118.00 to $100.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, StockNews.com cut East West Bancorp from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Friday, March 28th.

Insider Buying and Selling at East West Bancorp

In other news, CEO Dominic Ng sold 20,181 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.01, for a total transaction of $1,816,491.81. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 988,133 shares in the company, valued at $88,941,851.33. This trade represents a 2.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Jack C. Liu sold 1,275 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $104.53, for a total value of $133,275.75. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 14,557 shares in the company, valued at $1,521,643.21. This represents a 8.05 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 61,456 shares of company stock worth $5,549,969. Corporate insiders own 1.04% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On East West Bancorp

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of East West Bancorp by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,197,068 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,359,511,000 after purchasing an additional 70,503 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of East West Bancorp by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,990,468 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $765,167,000 after buying an additional 107,665 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of East West Bancorp by 4.4% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,418,840 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $423,148,000 after acquiring an additional 186,887 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in East West Bancorp by 17.0% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,018,504 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $289,052,000 after acquiring an additional 437,676 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Schroder Investment Management Group increased its stake in East West Bancorp by 6.9% in the fourth quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 2,831,862 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $272,652,000 after acquiring an additional 183,675 shares during the last quarter. 89.53% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

East West Bancorp Trading Down 0.9 %

NASDAQ:EWBC traded down $0.76 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $85.55. The company had a trading volume of 826,268 shares, compared to its average volume of 926,173. The firm has a market cap of $11.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.27, a P/E/G ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.09. East West Bancorp has a fifty-two week low of $68.27 and a fifty-two week high of $113.95. The business's fifty day moving average is $84.92 and its two-hundred day moving average is $94.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 0.91.

East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.09 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.05 by $0.04. East West Bancorp had a return on equity of 15.71% and a net margin of 25.73%. The business had revenue of $693.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $673.02 million. As a group, research analysts expect that East West Bancorp will post 8.85 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 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 2nd will be paid a $0.60 dividend. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.81%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 2nd. East West Bancorp's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 28.64%.

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.