East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) Price Target Raised to $125.00

East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) had its target price raised by Barclays from $120.00 to $125.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

A number of other brokerages also recently issued reports on EWBC. Stephens downgraded East West Bancorp from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on East West Bancorp from $96.00 to $128.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Wedbush lifted their price objective on shares of East West Bancorp from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price 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. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of East West Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $109.77.

East West Bancorp Price Performance

East West Bancorp stock opened at $95.91 on Thursday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $101.23 and its 200 day moving average is $86.60. East West Bancorp has a one year low of $67.27 and a one year high of $113.95. The firm has a market cap of $13.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.11, a P/E/G ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.92.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.06 by $0.03. East West Bancorp had a net margin of 24.96% and a return on equity of 16.07%. The firm had revenue of $1.16 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $641.80 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.02 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that East West Bancorp will post 8.39 EPS for the current year.

East West Bancorp Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Monday, November 4th were given a dividend of $0.55 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 4th. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.29%. East West Bancorp’s payout ratio is 27.78%.

Insider Activity at East West Bancorp

In related news, Vice Chairman Douglas Paul Krause sold 12,000 shares of the 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 directly owns 45,403 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,840,413.83. This trade represents a 20.90 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Rudolph Estrada sold 469 shares of East West Bancorp stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.04, for a total value of $45,980.76. Following the sale, the director now owns 17,750 shares in the company, valued at $1,740,210. This trade represents a 2.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 23,969 shares of company stock valued at $2,458,276. 1.04% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On East West Bancorp

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in EWBC. FMR LLC grew its position in East West Bancorp by 1.8% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,882,803 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $652,223,000 after buying an additional 136,528 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its stake in East West Bancorp by 1.4% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,314,994 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $439,763,000 after acquiring an additional 75,024 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of East West Bancorp by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,231,953 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $350,152,000 after acquiring an additional 96,729 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of East West Bancorp by 4.9% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,608,132 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $216,438,000 after purchasing an additional 122,738 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of East West Bancorp by 7.0% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,822,886 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $133,480,000 after purchasing an additional 118,658 shares during the period. 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.