East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) Posts Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.04 EPS

East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC - Get Free Report) released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday. The financial services provider reported $2.09 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.05 by $0.04, Zacks reports. The business had revenue of $693.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $673.02 million. East West Bancorp had a return on equity of 15.71% and a net margin of 25.73%.

East West Bancorp Trading Down 0.8 %

East West Bancorp stock traded down $0.71 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $85.26. 757,763 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 924,927. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46. The firm has a market cap of $11.80 billion, a PE ratio of 10.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $85.38 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $94.86. East West Bancorp has a 12-month low of $68.27 and a 12-month high of $113.95.

East West Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 16th. Investors of record on Friday, May 2nd will be paid a dividend of $0.60 per share. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.81%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 2nd. East West Bancorp's payout ratio is 28.64%.

Insider Transactions at East West Bancorp

In other East West Bancorp news, CEO Dominic Ng sold 20,181 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.01, for a total transaction of $1,816,491.81. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 988,133 shares in the company, valued at $88,941,851.33. This represents a 2.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Jack C. Liu sold 1,275 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $104.53, for a total value of $133,275.75. Following the completion of the sale, 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. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 62,181 shares of company stock valued at $5,625,732. 1.04% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have weighed in on EWBC shares. StockNews.com cut shares of East West Bancorp from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Friday, March 28th. Barclays upped their price target on East West Bancorp from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley lowered East West Bancorp from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $118.00 to $90.00 in a report on Monday, April 7th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on 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. Finally, DA Davidson dropped their price target on shares of East West Bancorp from $118.00 to $100.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $105.46.

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.