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

East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, April 23rd, RTT News reports. Investors 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.92%.

East West Bancorp has increased its dividend payment by an average of 20.4% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 4 consecutive years. East West Bancorp has a dividend payout ratio of 26.6% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. 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 Stock Performance

EWBC traded up $0.83 on Tuesday, hitting $75.30. The company had a trading volume of 1,417,757 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,214,527. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $74.46 and its 200 day moving average price is $68.11. East West Bancorp has a 1-year low of $41.12 and a 1-year high of $79.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.91. The stock has a market cap of $10.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.93 and a beta of 1.39.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently commented on EWBC shares. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on East West Bancorp from $86.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Citigroup raised their price target on East West Bancorp from $85.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $86.00 price target on shares of East West Bancorp in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Barclays initiated coverage on East West Bancorp in a report on Friday, March 8th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $106.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price target on East West Bancorp from $76.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. One investment 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 data from MarketBeat, East West Bancorp currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $83.42.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Molly Campbell sold 1,625 shares of East West Bancorp 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 sale, the director now directly owns 10,321 shares in the company, valued at $797,400.46. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, Director Molly Campbell sold 1,625 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.26, for a total value of $125,547.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 10,321 shares in the company, valued at $797,400.46. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Jack C. Liu sold 2,000 shares of the company’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 completion of 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 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.