East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) Price Target Raised to $116.00

East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) had its price objective upped by Citigroup from $100.00 to $116.00 in a research report report published on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. Citigroup currently has a buy rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

A number of other research analysts also recently commented on EWBC. Truist Financial began coverage on East West Bancorp in a research note on Tuesday, May 13th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $102.00 price target for the company. Wells Fargo & Company lowered 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. Morgan Stanley cut 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 report on Monday, April 7th. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on East West Bancorp in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. They set a “buy” rating and a $115.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on shares of East West Bancorp from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, East West Bancorp presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $108.38.

East West Bancorp Trading Up 1.3%

EWBC stock opened at $108.87 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.89. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $93.95 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $92.48. East West Bancorp has a one year low of $68.27 and a one year high of $113.95. The stock has a market cap of $15.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 0.93.

East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.09 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.05 by $0.04. East West Bancorp had a return on equity of 15.23% and a net margin of 25.73%. The company had revenue of $693.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $673.02 million. Equities analysts anticipate that East West Bancorp will post 8.85 EPS for the current year.

East West Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 16th. Investors of record on Friday, May 2nd were given a $0.60 dividend. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.20%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 2nd. East West Bancorp’s payout ratio is currently 28.64%.

Insider Buying and Selling at East West Bancorp

In other East West Bancorp news, CEO Dominic Ng sold 40,000 shares of East West Bancorp stock in a transaction on Monday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.43, for a total transaction of $3,857,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 928,314 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $89,517,319.02. The trade was a 4.13% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Lisa L. Kim sold 2,100 shares of East West Bancorp stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $95.04, for a total transaction of $199,584.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 14,849 shares in the company, valued at $1,411,248.96. This represents a 12.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 1.04% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On East West Bancorp

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in shares of East West Bancorp by 155.6% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 7,714,661 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $692,468,000 after purchasing an additional 4,696,157 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of East West Bancorp during the fourth quarter worth about $166,590,000. Earnest Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of East West Bancorp during the first quarter worth about $137,390,000. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of East West Bancorp during the first quarter worth about $83,330,000. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew its holdings in shares of East West Bancorp by 1,667.7% during the fourth 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 in the last quarter. 89.53% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.