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

East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC - Get Free Report) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, October 22nd, Zacks reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 4th will be given a dividend of 0.55 per share by the financial services provider on Friday, November 15th. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.26%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 4th.

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 payout ratio of 26.3% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect East West Bancorp to earn $8.50 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 25.9%.

East West Bancorp Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:EWBC traded up $1.56 during trading on Thursday, hitting $97.19. 968,218 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 932,472. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $83.31 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $78.36. East West Bancorp has a 52-week low of $51.40 and a 52-week high of $98.95. The company has a market cap of $13.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.10, a P/E/G ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a quick ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49.

East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.09 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.06 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $1.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $641.80 million. East West Bancorp had a net margin of 25.40% and a return on equity of 16.64%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.02 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that East West Bancorp will post 8.2 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Lisa L. Kim sold 6,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.68, for a total transaction of $472,080.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 18,891 shares in the company, valued at $1,486,343.88. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other East West Bancorp news, Director Rudolph Estrada sold 1,896 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, July 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.77, for a total value 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. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Lisa L. Kim sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.68, for a total value of $472,080.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 18,891 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,486,343.88. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 13,346 shares of company stock valued at $1,108,160. 1.04% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently issued reports on EWBC. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of East West Bancorp from $97.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of East West Bancorp from $103.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday. DA Davidson boosted their price target on shares of East West Bancorp from $100.00 to $107.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Stephens boosted their price objective on East West Bancorp from $91.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their price objective on East West Bancorp from $93.00 to $101.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $99.46.

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.