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

East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) had its price target hoisted by Barclays from $120.00 to $125.00 in a report released on Thursday,Benzinga reports. Barclays currently has an overweight rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

A number of other research firms have also weighed in on EWBC. Compass Point upped their target price on shares of East West Bancorp from $110.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on East West Bancorp from $103.00 to $106.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. StockNews.com upgraded East West Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Wells Fargo & Company raised 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 note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, UBS Group assumed coverage on shares of East West Bancorp in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $112.00 price target on the stock. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $109.77.

East West Bancorp Trading Up 1.1 %

NASDAQ:EWBC opened at $95.91 on Thursday. East West Bancorp has a 1 year low of $67.27 and a 1 year high of $113.95. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $101.23 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $86.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.92. The company 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.

East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.09 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.06 by $0.03. East West Bancorp had a return on equity of 16.07% and a net margin of 24.96%. The business had revenue of $1.16 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $641.80 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.02 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that East West Bancorp will post 8.39 EPS for the current year.

East West Bancorp Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity at East West Bancorp

In other East West Bancorp news, Director Molly Campbell sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.65, for a total value of $147,975.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 10,639 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,049,537.35. The trade was a 12.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 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 transaction of $45,980.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 17,750 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,740,210. The trade was a 2.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 23,969 shares of company stock worth $2,458,276 in the last ninety days. 1.04% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On East West Bancorp

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of East West Bancorp by 1.8% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,882,803 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $652,223,000 after purchasing an additional 136,528 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of East West Bancorp by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,314,994 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $439,763,000 after buying 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% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,231,953 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $350,152,000 after buying an additional 96,729 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of East West Bancorp by 4.9% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,608,132 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $216,438,000 after buying an additional 122,738 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of East West Bancorp by 7.0% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,822,886 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $133,480,000 after acquiring an additional 118,658 shares in the last quarter. 89.53% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

East West Bancorp Company Profile

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.