East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) Sets New 52-Week High – Here’s What Happened

East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high on Friday . The stock traded as high as $120.50 and last traded at $120.6050, with a volume of 19936 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $118.46.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently commented on EWBC shares. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of East West Bancorp in a research note on Monday, December 29th. TD Cowen reduced their price objective on shares of East West Bancorp from $141.00 to $140.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 26th. Wall Street Zen raised East West Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, October 11th. Zacks Research cut East West Bancorp from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 24th. Finally, UBS Group set a $125.00 target price on East West Bancorp in a research note on Wednesday. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $128.14.

East West Bancorp Price Performance

The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $113.95 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $107.32. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The stock has a market cap of $16.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.88, a PEG ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 0.92.

East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.52 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.48 by $0.04. East West Bancorp had a net margin of 28.36% and a return on equity of 15.72%. The firm had revenue of $754.92 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $745.04 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.10 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that East West Bancorp, Inc. will post 8.85 EPS for the current year.

East West Bancorp Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 2nd will be issued a $0.80 dividend. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.6%. This is a positive change from East West Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 2nd. East West Bancorp’s payout ratio is presently 33.61%.

Insider Activity

In other East West Bancorp news, COO Parker Shi sold 8,844 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $115.03, for a total transaction of $1,017,325.32. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 14,950 shares in the company, valued at $1,719,698.50. The trade was a 37.17% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Dominic Ng sold 50,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $117.82, for a total transaction of $5,891,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 808,331 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $95,237,558.42. The trade was a 5.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 112,785 shares of company stock valued at $13,042,716 in the last three months. Company insiders own 1.04% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On East West Bancorp

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. grew its holdings in shares of East West Bancorp by 97.3% during the 4th quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 789 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $89,000 after purchasing an additional 389 shares in the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its stake in East West Bancorp by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 16,727 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,880,000 after purchasing an additional 506 shares during the period. Handelsbanken Fonder AB boosted its holdings in East West Bancorp by 74.3% during the fourth quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 338,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $37,988,000 after purchasing an additional 144,100 shares in the last quarter. North Dakota State Investment Board acquired a new position in shares of East West Bancorp in the 4th quarter worth approximately $541,000. Finally, Noesis Capital Mangement Corp grew its position in East West Bancorp by 34.2% in the fourth quarter. Noesis Capital Mangement Corp now owns 17,373 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,953,000 after acquiring an additional 4,423 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.53% of the company’s stock.

About East West Bancorp

East West Bancorp, Inc is a bank holding company and the parent of East West Bank, one of the largest independent banks headquartered in Southern California. As a full-service commercial bank, it provides a broad range of financial products and services to business and individual customers, including commercial and residential real estate lending, working capital lines of credit, trade finance, and deposit and treasury management services. The company caters to both large and middle-market businesses, leveraging its expertise to serve clients engaged in cross-border trade and investment between the United States and Greater China.

Founded in Los Angeles in the early 1970s, East West Bank has grown steadily through organic expansion and strategic branch openings.