East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) Reaches New 52-Week High – Should You Buy?

East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $107.63 and last traded at $107.61, with a volume of 17631 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $106.72.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on EWBC. Barclays lifted their price target on East West Bancorp from $108.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Compass Point boosted their price objective on East West Bancorp from $93.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. StockNews.com raised East West Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on East West Bancorp from $103.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on East West Bancorp from $103.00 to $106.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $102.25.

East West Bancorp Stock Down 0.3 %

The firm has a 50-day moving average of $88.75 and a two-hundred day moving average of $81.10. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.36 billion, a PE ratio of 13.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 1.27.

East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) last announced its 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. East West Bancorp had a return on equity of 16.07% and a net margin of 24.96%. The company had revenue of $1.16 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $641.80 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.02 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that East West Bancorp, Inc. will post 8.34 EPS for the current year.

East West Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 4th will be issued a dividend of $0.55 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 4th. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.12%. East West Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.78%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Rudolph Estrada sold 469 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.04, for a total transaction of $45,980.76. Following the sale, the director now owns 17,750 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,740,210. The trade was a 2.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Vice Chairman Douglas Paul Krause sold 12,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 45,403 shares in the company, valued at $4,840,413.83. This represents a 20.90 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 25,969 shares of company stock valued at $2,625,276. Insiders own 1.04% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On East West Bancorp

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new position in shares of East West Bancorp during the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its stake in shares of East West Bancorp by 362.8% in the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 361 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 283 shares during the last quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. acquired a new position in East West Bancorp during the 2nd quarter worth $30,000. American Capital Advisory LLC acquired a new position in East West Bancorp during the 2nd quarter worth $31,000. Finally, Tobam lifted its position in East West Bancorp by 131.7% during the 3rd quarter. Tobam now owns 482 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 274 shares during the last quarter. 89.53% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About East West Bancorp

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.