Manuel Pham Alvarez Sells 810 Shares of East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) Stock

East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC) Director Manuel Alvarez sold 810 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $130.40, for a total value of $105,624.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 10,629 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,386,021.60. This trade represents a 7.08% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

East West Bancorp Trading Down 0.2%

Shares of East West Bancorp stock opened at $129.17 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.88. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $131.33 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $123.04. East West Bancorp, Inc. has a 1 year low of $92.67 and a 1 year high of $137.47. The company has a market capitalization of $17.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.42, a P/E/G ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 0.93.

East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 21st. The financial services provider reported $2.63 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.61 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $789.98 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $784.47 million. East West Bancorp had a net margin of 30.45% and a return on equity of 16.07%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 12.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.24 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that East West Bancorp, Inc. will post 10.61 EPS for the current year.

East West Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 17th. Investors of record on Monday, August 3rd were paid a $0.80 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 3rd. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.5%. East West Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is 30.77%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on EWBC shares. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of East West Bancorp from $150.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. Truist Financial upped their target price on East West Bancorp from $128.00 to $136.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Morgan Stanley upgraded East West Bancorp from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $131.00 to $160.00 in a research note on Tuesday. Stephens lifted their price target on East West Bancorp from $129.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Finally, DA Davidson boosted their price target on East West Bancorp from $150.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $144.15.

Institutional Trading of East West Bancorp

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. California State Teachers Retirement System increased its holdings in shares of East West Bancorp by 12,510.7% during the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 20,651,302 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,665,877,000 after purchasing an additional 20,487,542 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of East West Bancorp in the second quarter valued at approximately $1,744,958,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. boosted its stake in shares of East West Bancorp by 84,090.3% in the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 5,311,566 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $596,967,000 after buying an additional 5,305,257 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of East West Bancorp by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,981,065 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $559,822,000 after buying an additional 106,998 shares during the period. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP grew its position in East West Bancorp by 7.1% during the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 4,620,772 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $519,329,000 after buying an additional 306,916 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.53% of the company’s stock.

East West Bancorp Company Profile

East West Bancorp, Inc (NASDAQ: EWBC) is the holding company for East West Bank, a full-service commercial bank headquartered in Pasadena, California. Founded in 1973, the company provides banking and financial services to individuals, businesses, and institutions through its East West Bank subsidiary.

East West Bank offers deposit accounts, commercial and consumer lending, residential mortgage services, wealth management, treasury management, and international banking services. Its products support commercial real estate, commercial and industrial businesses, residential borrowers, and consumers.

The bank has a particular focus on serving communities and businesses connected to the United States and Greater China.