Barclays Issues Positive Forecast for East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) Stock Price

East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) had its price objective raised by Barclays from $110.00 to $120.00 in a research note published on Thursday,Benzinga reports. Barclays currently has an overweight rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

Other research analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of East West Bancorp from $105.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of East West Bancorp from $103.00 to $109.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on East West Bancorp from $96.00 to $128.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Stephens raised their price objective on East West Bancorp from $91.00 to $104.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Wedbush boosted their target price on East West Bancorp from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, East West Bancorp currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $107.92.

East West Bancorp Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ:EWBC opened at $105.33 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.30, a P/E/G ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 0.92. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $97.79 and a 200-day moving average price of $84.71. East West Bancorp has a 52-week low of $66.68 and a 52-week high of $113.95.

East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.09 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.06 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $1.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $641.80 million. East West Bancorp had a return on equity of 16.07% and a net margin of 24.96%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.02 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that East West Bancorp will post 8.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

East West Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Monday, November 4th were issued a $0.55 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 4th. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.09%. East West Bancorp’s payout ratio is 27.78%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Rudolph Estrada sold 469 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.04, for a total transaction of $45,980.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 17,750 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,740,210. The trade was a 2.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Vice Chairman Douglas Paul Krause sold 12,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.61, for a total transaction of $1,279,320.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 45,403 shares in the company, valued at $4,840,413.83. This represents a 20.90 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 23,969 shares of company stock valued at $2,458,276. 1.04% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of East West Bancorp

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new position in East West Bancorp in the third quarter worth about $25,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new position in shares of East West Bancorp in the third quarter worth approximately $26,000. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. bought a new stake in East West Bancorp during the second quarter valued at approximately $30,000. UMB Bank n.a. grew its position in East West Bancorp by 362.8% during the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 361 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 283 shares during the period. Finally, American Capital Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in East West Bancorp during the second quarter valued at approximately $31,000. 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.