East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) Price Target Lowered to $97.00 at Piper Sandler

East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) had its price target reduced by Piper Sandler from $100.00 to $97.00 in a research report released on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a neutral rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

Several other brokerages also recently commented on EWBC. Stephens downgraded shares of East West Bancorp from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Wedbush boosted their price target on shares of East West Bancorp from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of East West Bancorp from $103.00 to $106.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on East West Bancorp from $105.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, Truist Financial increased their target price on East West Bancorp from $93.00 to $101.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, East West Bancorp currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $110.38.

East West Bancorp Price Performance

East West Bancorp stock opened at $103.25 on Monday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $101.28 and a 200 day simple moving average of $91.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.92. The company has a market capitalization of $14.31 billion, a PE ratio of 13.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 1.30. East West Bancorp has a one year low of $67.27 and a one year high of $113.95.

East West Bancorp Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd will be paid a $0.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.32%. This is an increase from East West Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. East West Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is 27.78%.

Insider Transactions at East West Bancorp

In related news, Vice Chairman Douglas Paul Krause sold 12,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.61, for a total value of $1,279,320.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 45,403 shares in the company, valued at $4,840,413.83. This trade represents a 20.90 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Jack C. Liu sold 725 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $104.50, for a total transaction of $75,762.50. Following the transaction, the director now owns 15,832 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,654,444. This represents a 4.38 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 13,194 shares of company stock worth $1,401,063 in the last three months. Insiders own 1.04% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On East West Bancorp

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in East West Bancorp by 1.8% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,882,803 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $652,223,000 after acquiring an additional 136,528 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of East West Bancorp by 1.4% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,314,994 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $439,763,000 after purchasing an additional 75,024 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of East West Bancorp by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,231,953 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $350,152,000 after purchasing an additional 96,729 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of East West Bancorp by 4.9% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,608,132 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $216,438,000 after purchasing an additional 122,738 shares during the period. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC grew its position in shares of East West Bancorp by 7.3% in the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,804,288 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $149,287,000 after purchasing an additional 123,376 shares during the period. 89.53% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.