East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC) Receives Average Rating of "Moderate Buy" from Analysts

Key Points

• East West Bancorp has received a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" from analysts, with an average 12-month price target of $116.64.
• Recent insider sales include EVP Gary Teo and Director Jack C. Liu, who sold shares, indicating a decrease in ownership following these transactions.
• Institutional investors hold a significant stake in the company, owning 89.53% of shares, with notable new investments made by Invesco Ltd. and Norges Bank.

Shares of East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC - Get Free Report) have received a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" from the fourteen research firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and nine have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $116.6429.

EWBC has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Piper Sandler raised their target price on East West Bancorp from $100.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, September 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on East West Bancorp from $110.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 23rd. Barclays raised their target price on East West Bancorp from $110.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. DA Davidson raised their target price on East West Bancorp from $115.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 23rd. Finally, Citigroup raised their target price on East West Bancorp from $124.00 to $134.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, September 8th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Gary Teo sold 6,550 shares of East West Bancorp stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.47, for a total value of $697,378.50. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 12,235 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,302,660.45. The trade was a 34.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Jack C. Liu sold 1,000 shares of East West Bancorp stock in a transaction on 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 directly owned 14,974 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,572,270. The trade was a 6.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 70,240 shares of company stock worth $7,379,678 in the last three months. 1.04% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On East West Bancorp

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of EWBC. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in shares of East West Bancorp by 155.6% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 7,714,661 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $692,468,000 after buying an additional 4,696,157 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of East West Bancorp in the second quarter valued at $174,431,000. Earnest Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of East West Bancorp in the first quarter valued at $137,390,000. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of East West Bancorp in the first quarter valued at $83,330,000. Finally, Boston Partners grew its stake in shares of East West Bancorp by 39.6% in the second quarter. Boston Partners now owns 3,241,088 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $327,271,000 after buying an additional 920,159 shares in the last quarter. 89.53% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

East West Bancorp Price Performance

NASDAQ:EWBC opened at $105.76 on Thursday. East West Bancorp has a one year low of $68.27 and a one year high of $113.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 0.89. The stock has a market cap of $14.58 billion, a PE ratio of 12.36, a P/E/G ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 0.97. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $104.69 and a 200 day moving average price of $95.50.

East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.28 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.23 by $0.05. East West Bancorp had a return on equity of 15.09% and a net margin of 26.06%.The firm had revenue of $705.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $702.04 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.07 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 10.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that East West Bancorp will post 8.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

East West Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 4th were paid a dividend of $0.60 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 4th. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.3%. East West Bancorp's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 28.04%.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.