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

East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, July 23rd, Zacks reports. Investors of record on Friday, August 2nd will be paid a dividend of 0.55 per share by the financial services provider on Friday, August 16th. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.50%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 2nd.

East West Bancorp has increased its dividend payment by an average of 20.4% annually over the last three years. East West Bancorp has a dividend payout ratio of 26.3% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect East West Bancorp to earn $8.56 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 25.7%.

East West Bancorp Stock Down 0.4 %

EWBC stock opened at $87.89 on Thursday. East West Bancorp has a 52 week low of $49.59 and a 52 week high of $89.75. The company has a quick ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $75.24 and a 200-day simple moving average of $74.65. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.07, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 1.32.

East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.07 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.97 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $638.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $631.61 million. East West Bancorp had a net margin of 25.40% and a return on equity of 16.64%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.20 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that East West Bancorp will post 8.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

EWBC has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on East West Bancorp from $72.50 to $92.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of East West Bancorp from $106.00 to $105.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, June 24th. Wedbush boosted their target price on shares of East West Bancorp from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of East West Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on East West Bancorp from $85.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $88.60.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Irene H. Oh sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.58, for a total transaction of $775,800.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 127,193 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,867,632.94. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other East West Bancorp news, Director Rudolph Estrada sold 1,896 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.77, for a total transaction of $166,411.92. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 18,470 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,621,111.90. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Irene H. Oh sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.58, for a total transaction of $775,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 127,193 shares in the company, valued at $9,867,632.94. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 23,346 shares of company stock valued at $1,834,960 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 1.04% of the company’s stock.

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.