East West Bancorp, Inc. (EWBC) To Go Ex-Dividend on May 2nd

East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, April 23rd, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 3rd will be given a dividend of 0.55 per share by the financial services provider on Friday, May 17th. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.88%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 2nd.

East West Bancorp has raised its dividend payment by an average of 20.4% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 4 years. East West Bancorp has a payout ratio of 26.6% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect East West Bancorp to earn $8.29 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.20 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 26.5%.

East West Bancorp Trading Up 0.6 %

NASDAQ:EWBC opened at $76.45 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $74.93 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $68.98. The company has a market cap of $10.64 billion, a PE ratio of 9.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 1.39. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. East West Bancorp has a 12 month low of $41.12 and a 12 month high of $79.54.

East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.08 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.00 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $644.13 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $636.77 million. East West Bancorp had a return on equity of 17.43% and a net margin of 26.78%. East West Bancorp’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.32 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that East West Bancorp will post 7.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Molly Campbell sold 1,625 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.26, for a total transaction of $125,547.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 10,321 shares in the company, valued at approximately $797,400.46. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, Director Molly Campbell sold 1,625 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.26, for a total transaction of $125,547.50. Following the transaction, the director now owns 10,321 shares in the company, valued at $797,400.46. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Jack C. Liu sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.58, for a total transaction of $147,160.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 16,739 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,231,655.62. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 1.04% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have weighed in on EWBC shares. Truist Financial decreased their price target on shares of East West Bancorp from $90.00 to $86.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on East West Bancorp from $76.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on shares of East West Bancorp from $82.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of East West Bancorp from $72.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of East West Bancorp from $86.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $84.08.

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.