East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) Coverage Initiated by Analysts at Hovde Group

Research analysts at Hovde Group assumed coverage on shares of East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday, Briefing.com reports. The firm set an “outperform” rating and a $153.00 price target on the financial services provider’s stock. Hovde Group‘s target price points to a potential upside of 16.82% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other analysts have also commented on EWBC. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of East West Bancorp in a research note on Tuesday, October 6th. DA Davidson boosted their price objective 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. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of East West Bancorp from $155.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 3rd. Stephens raised their target price on shares of East West Bancorp from $129.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of East West Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 1st. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $145.71.

East West Bancorp Trading Up 1.7%

EWBC opened at $130.97 on Tuesday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $128.21 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $123.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.46, a PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.87. East West Bancorp has a one year low of $98.72 and a one year high of $137.47.

East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 20th. The financial services provider reported $2.76 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.72 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $822.72 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $811.07 million. East West Bancorp had a return on equity of 16.07% and a net margin of 30.75%. The business’s revenue was up 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.65 EPS. Analysts predict that East West Bancorp will post 10.73 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at East West Bancorp

In related news, Director Manuel Alvarez sold 810 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $130.40, for a total value of $105,624.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 10,629 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,386,021.60. This represents a 7.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Dominic Ng sold 34,977 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $132.12, for a total value of $4,621,161.24. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 672,953 shares in the company, valued at approximately $88,910,550.36. The trade was a 4.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 36,787 shares of company stock worth $4,861,805 over the last ninety days. 0.94% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Edgestream Partners L.P. bought a new position in shares of East West Bancorp in the 3rd quarter worth about $12,569,000. HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its stake in East West Bancorp by 20.4% during the third quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 21,049 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,609,000 after acquiring an additional 3,570 shares in the last quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. boosted its stake in East West Bancorp by 7.3% during the third quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 5,757 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $713,000 after acquiring an additional 394 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in East West Bancorp by 1.3% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 723,073 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $89,610,000 after acquiring an additional 9,185 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its holdings in East West Bancorp by 16.1% in the third quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 62,601 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $7,760,000 after purchasing an additional 8,672 shares during the period. 89.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

East West Bancorp Company Profile

East West Bancorp, Inc is the holding company for East West Bank, a commercial bank headquartered in Pasadena, California. Founded in 1973, the bank initially served Chinese American communities in Southern California and has since expanded its services and geographic reach.

East West Bank provides personal and business banking, commercial lending, trade finance, treasury management and other financial services. Its customers include individuals, small and midsize businesses, and larger companies, with a focus on supporting commerce between the United States and Asia.

The bank operates across several U.S.