East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the thirteen ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $110.38.

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. UBS Group assumed coverage on shares of East West Bancorp in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $112.00 price target for the company. DA Davidson reduced their target price on shares of East West Bancorp from $120.00 to $118.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 24th. StockNews.com lowered shares of East West Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Compass Point upped their target price on shares of East West Bancorp from $110.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Barclays reduced their target price on shares of East West Bancorp from $125.00 to $120.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 24th.

East West Bancorp Price Performance

Shares of EWBC stock opened at $99.25 on Wednesday. East West Bancorp has a 12-month low of $68.78 and a 12-month high of $113.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a quick ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $99.18 and a 200-day moving average of $93.34.

East West Bancorp Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were given a dividend of $0.60 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 3rd. This is a boost from East West Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.42%. East West Bancorp’s payout ratio is 28.81%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Jack C. Liu sold 1,275 shares of the company’s 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 sale, the director now directly owns 14,557 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,521,643.21. This represents a 8.05 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 1.04% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On East West Bancorp

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of East West Bancorp by 0.5% in 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 period. FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of East West Bancorp by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,990,468 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $765,167,000 after purchasing an additional 107,665 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of East West Bancorp by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,314,994 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $439,763,000 after purchasing an additional 75,024 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in East West Bancorp by 4.4% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,418,840 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $423,148,000 after acquiring an additional 186,887 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in East West Bancorp by 17.0% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,018,504 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $289,052,000 after acquiring an additional 437,676 shares during the period. 89.53% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.