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

East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday. The financial services provider reported $2.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.05 by $0.04, Zacks reports. East West Bancorp had a return on equity of 15.71% and a net margin of 25.73%. The firm had revenue of $693.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $673.02 million.

East West Bancorp Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:EWBC opened at $79.21 on Wednesday. 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 has a one year low of $68.27 and a one year high of $113.95. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $86.19 and a 200-day simple moving average of $94.83. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.51, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.09.

East West Bancorp Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 17th. Investors of record on Monday, February 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.60 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.03%. This is a boost from East West Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. East West Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is currently 28.81%.

Insider Activity at East West Bancorp

In related news, Director Jack C. Liu sold 725 shares of East West Bancorp stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $104.50, for a total value of $75,762.50. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 15,832 shares in the company, valued at $1,654,444. This trade represents a 4.38 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Dominic Ng sold 20,181 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 988,133 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $88,941,851.33. The trade was a 2.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 62,181 shares of company stock worth $5,625,732 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 1.04% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley cut shares of East West Bancorp from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $118.00 to $90.00 in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on East West Bancorp from $120.00 to $100.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. DA Davidson cut their target price on shares of East West Bancorp from $120.00 to $118.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Piper Sandler lowered their price target on shares of East West Bancorp from $100.00 to $97.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of East West Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, March 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $106.46.

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.