East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC) Plans $0.55 Quarterly Dividend

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 paid a dividend of 0.55 per share by the financial services provider on Friday, May 17th. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.92%.

East West Bancorp has increased its dividend by an average of 20.4% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 4 years. East West Bancorp has a payout ratio of 26.6% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect East West Bancorp to earn $8.20 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 26.8%.

East West Bancorp Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of EWBC stock traded up $0.83 on Tuesday, reaching $75.30. 1,417,757 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,214,527. East West Bancorp has a 52 week low of $41.12 and a 52 week high of $79.54. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.48 billion, a PE ratio of 9.10, a P/E/G ratio of 0.93 and a beta of 1.39. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $74.46 and its 200 day simple moving average is $68.11.

East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.89 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $654.70 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $641.91 million. East West Bancorp had a return on equity of 18.47% and a net margin of 29.11%. East West Bancorp’s quarterly revenue was down 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.37 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that East West Bancorp will post 7.87 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in on EWBC. Truist Financial boosted their price target on East West Bancorp from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 1st. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $86.00 price target on shares of East West Bancorp in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Citigroup upped their price target on East West Bancorp from $85.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on East West Bancorp from $86.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Finally, Compass Point increased their target price on East West Bancorp from $83.00 to $88.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $83.42.

Insider Buying and Selling at East West Bancorp

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

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.