East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) Given New $120.00 Price Target at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods

East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC - Free Report) had its price objective increased by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $110.00 to $120.00 in a research note published on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods currently has an outperform rating on the financial services provider's stock.

Other equities analysts have also issued reports about the company. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on East West Bancorp in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. They set a "buy" rating and a $115.00 price objective for the company. Barclays boosted their price objective on East West Bancorp from $110.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price 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. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of East West Bancorp from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered shares of East West Bancorp from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $118.00 to $90.00 in a research note on Monday, April 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $114.15.

East West Bancorp Stock Down 2.7%

Shares of EWBC stock traded down $2.87 on Wednesday, hitting $103.51. The stock had a trading volume of 1,291,235 shares, compared to its average volume of 932,645. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.89. The business has a 50 day moving average of $98.81 and a 200 day moving average of $93.56. East West Bancorp has a 12-month low of $68.27 and a 12-month high of $113.95. The stock has a market cap of $14.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 0.93.

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 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.23 by $0.05. East West Bancorp had a net margin of 26.06% and a return on equity of 15.09%. The company had revenue of $705.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $702.04 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.07 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 10.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that East West Bancorp will post 8.85 EPS for the current year.

East West Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Investors of record on Monday, August 4th will be given a $0.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 4th. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.32%. East West Bancorp's payout ratio is 28.04%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Dominic Ng sold 40,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.43, for a total value of $3,857,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 928,314 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $89,517,319.02. This represents a 4.13% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Lisa L. Kim sold 2,100 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $95.04, for a total transaction of $199,584.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 14,849 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,411,248.96. This represents a 12.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.04% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On East West Bancorp

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of EWBC. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in East West Bancorp by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,197,068 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,359,511,000 after purchasing an additional 70,503 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of East West Bancorp by 1.4% during the fourth 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 during the period. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in 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 worth $692,468,000 after buying an additional 4,696,157 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of East West Bancorp by 7.1% in the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,733,102 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $424,843,000 after acquiring an additional 314,262 shares in the last quarter. Finally, T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of East West Bancorp by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,005,394 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $359,525,000 after purchasing an additional 46,717 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.53% of the company's stock.

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.