East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) Upgraded by StockNews.com to Hold Rating

StockNews.com upgraded shares of East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research note published on Thursday morning.

Other analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. DA Davidson lowered their target price on 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. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of East West Bancorp from $125.00 to $120.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted 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, December 4th. Stephens downgraded East West Bancorp from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, UBS Group began coverage on shares of East West Bancorp in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $112.00 price target for the company. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $111.31.

East West Bancorp Trading Down 0.5 %

NASDAQ:EWBC opened at $89.89 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $12.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.79, a P/E/G ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.28. East West Bancorp has a 1 year low of $68.78 and a 1 year high of $113.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 0.91. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $96.15 and a 200-day simple moving average of $94.88.

East West Bancorp Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 17th. Investors of record on Monday, February 3rd were paid a $0.60 dividend. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.67%. 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. East West Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 28.81%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Jack C. Liu sold 725 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $104.50, for a total value of $75,762.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 15,832 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,654,444. This trade represents a 4.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Dominic Ng sold 19,819 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.00, for a total value of $1,783,710.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 968,314 shares in the company, valued at approximately $87,148,260. This represents a 2.01 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 62,181 shares of company stock worth $5,625,732. Corporate insiders own 1.04% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of East West Bancorp

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of East West Bancorp in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $166,590,000. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its holdings in East West Bancorp by 1,667.7% during the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 670,156 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $64,174,000 after purchasing an additional 632,245 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners boosted its position in shares of East West Bancorp by 23.1% during the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 2,383,284 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $228,269,000 after purchasing an additional 447,057 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in East West Bancorp by 17.0% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,018,504 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $289,052,000 after acquiring an additional 437,676 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of East West Bancorp during the fourth quarter valued at about $32,138,000. Institutional investors own 89.53% of the company’s stock.

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.