East West Bancorp, Inc. to Issue Dividend of $0.60 (NASDAQ:EWBC)

East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC) announced a dividend on Monday, January 27th,investing.com reports. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 4th will be given a dividend of 0.60 per share by the financial services provider on Monday, February 17th. This represents a dividend yield of 2.33%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 3rd.

East West Bancorp has increased its dividend by an average of 18.6% annually over the last three years. East West Bancorp has a dividend payout ratio of 24.8% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect East West Bancorp to earn $8.68 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.40 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 27.6%.

East West Bancorp Stock Performance

Shares of EWBC stock opened at $102.93 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $14.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.00, a P/E/G ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $101.30 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $91.31. East West Bancorp has a one year low of $67.27 and a one year high of $113.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.92.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Vice Chairman Douglas Paul Krause sold 12,000 shares of East West Bancorp stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.61, for a total value of $1,279,320.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 45,403 shares in the company, valued at $4,840,413.83. The trade was a 20.90 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Rudolph Estrada sold 469 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.04, for a total transaction of $45,980.76. Following the transaction, the director now owns 17,750 shares in the company, valued at $1,740,210. This represents a 2.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 23,969 shares of company stock worth $2,458,276. Insiders own 1.04% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have commented on EWBC shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of East West Bancorp from $96.00 to $128.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on East West Bancorp from $87.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. UBS Group initiated coverage on East West Bancorp in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $112.00 target price on the stock. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of East West Bancorp from $125.00 to $120.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Finally, Citigroup raised their price objective on East West Bancorp from $103.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, East West Bancorp currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $110.23.

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.