East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) Issues Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.08 EPS

East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) issued its earnings results on Tuesday. The financial services provider reported $2.08 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.00 by $0.08, RTT News reports. East West Bancorp had a net margin of 26.78% and a return on equity of 17.66%. The company had revenue of $644.13 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $636.77 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.32 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year.

East West Bancorp Stock Up 2.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ EWBC opened at $77.20 on Thursday. East West Bancorp has a 1 year low of $41.12 and a 1 year high of $79.54. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $74.69 and its 200 day moving average price is $68.34. The firm has a market cap of $10.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 1.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 0.91.

East West Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 17th. Investors of record on Friday, May 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.55 per share. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.85%. East West Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 27.71%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have weighed in on EWBC. Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of East West Bancorp from $72.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Stephens upped their target price on shares of East West Bancorp from $85.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $90.00 target price on shares of East West Bancorp in a research report on Wednesday. Compass Point upped their target price on shares of East West Bancorp from $83.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 13th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on shares of East West Bancorp from $86.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $84.38.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

About East West Bancorp

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.