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

East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday. The financial services provider reported $2.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $644.13 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $636.77 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.32 EPS. East West Bancorp’s revenue was down 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year.

East West Bancorp Stock Performance

EWBC traded down $0.89 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $76.31. The stock had a trading volume of 265,625 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,208,422. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $74.69 and its 200 day simple moving average is $68.34. East West Bancorp has a 1 year low of $41.12 and a 1 year high of $79.54. The stock has a market cap of $10.62 billion, a PE ratio of 9.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 1.39. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02.

East West Bancorp Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 17th. Investors of record on Friday, May 3rd will be issued a $0.55 dividend. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.88%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 2nd. East West Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 27.71%.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

EWBC has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $90.00 price objective on shares of East West Bancorp in a research note on Wednesday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on East West Bancorp from $82.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Truist Financial raised their price objective 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. Stephens raised their price objective on East West Bancorp from $85.00 to $86.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on East West Bancorp from $86.00 to $88.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, East West Bancorp has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $84.38.

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.