East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) Posts Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.10 EPS

East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday. The financial services provider reported $2.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.97 by $0.10, Briefing.com reports. East West Bancorp had a net margin of 25.40% and a return on equity of 16.85%. The company had revenue of $638.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $631.61 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.20 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down .9% on a year-over-year basis.

East West Bancorp Trading Up 3.6 %

NASDAQ EWBC traded up $3.04 on Thursday, hitting $87.45. 278,186 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,040,230. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 0.93. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $74.12 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $74.12. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.93, a P/E/G ratio of 5.04 and a beta of 1.32. East West Bancorp has a 52-week low of $49.59 and a 52-week high of $87.75.

East West Bancorp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 16th. Investors of record on Friday, August 2nd will be issued a $0.55 dividend. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 2nd. East West Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.71%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other East West Bancorp news, Vice Chairman Douglas Paul Krause sold 8,000 shares of East West Bancorp stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.76, for a total transaction of $590,080.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 57,403 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,234,045.28. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, Vice Chairman Douglas Paul Krause sold 8,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.76, for a total transaction of $590,080.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 57,403 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,234,045.28. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Irene H. Oh sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.58, for a total transaction of $775,800.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 127,193 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,867,632.94. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.04% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

EWBC has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of East West Bancorp from $72.50 to $92.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday. StockNews.com upgraded shares of East West Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Truist Financial increased their price target on shares of East West Bancorp from $80.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of East West Bancorp from $106.00 to $105.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, June 24th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of East West Bancorp from $82.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $88.60.

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.