Citigroup Cuts East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) Price Target to $152.00

East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) had its price target trimmed by Citigroup from $156.00 to $152.00 in a research note released on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a buy rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

Several other research analysts also recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company assumed coverage on East West Bancorp in a research note on Monday, August 10th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $155.00 price objective for the company. TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of East West Bancorp from $148.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 18th. DA Davidson upped their price target on shares of East West Bancorp from $150.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Morgan Stanley raised shares of East West Bancorp from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the company from $131.00 to $160.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 8th. Finally, Stephens lifted their price target on shares of East West Bancorp from $129.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $144.54.

East West Bancorp Trading Up 0.9%

Shares of EWBC stock opened at $125.62 on Tuesday. East West Bancorp has a twelve month low of $92.67 and a twelve month high of $137.47. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $130.47 and its 200 day simple moving average is $124.04. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.08, a P/E/G ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 0.93.

East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) last posted its earnings results 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. East West Bancorp had a return on equity of 16.07% and a net margin of 30.45%.The firm had revenue of $789.98 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $784.47 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.24 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 12.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that East West Bancorp will post 10.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

East West Bancorp Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling at East West Bancorp

In other news, Director Jack Liu sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $135.02, for a total value of $135,020.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 13,709 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,850,989.18. The trade was a 6.80% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Vice Chairman Douglas Krause sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $132.37, for a total transaction of $1,323,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 36,974 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,894,248.38. This represents a 21.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 11,810 shares of company stock valued at $1,564,344. 0.94% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of East West Bancorp

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in shares of East West Bancorp during the second quarter valued at about $1,744,958,000. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of East West Bancorp in the 4th quarter valued at about $199,529,000. Bank of America Corp DE bought a new stake in East West Bancorp in the 2nd quarter valued at about $221,652,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new stake in East West Bancorp in the 2nd quarter valued at about $130,744,000. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company acquired a new position in East West Bancorp during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $36,995,000. Institutional investors own 89.53% of the company’s stock.

About East West Bancorp

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.