East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC) Announces Dividend Increase – $0.60 Per Share

East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, January 23rd,investing.com reports. Investors of record on Monday, February 3rd will be given a dividend of 0.60 per share by the financial services provider on Monday, February 17th. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.33%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 3rd. This is a positive change from East West Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55.

East West Bancorp has increased its dividend by an average of 18.6% annually over the last three years. East West Bancorp has a payout ratio of 24.8% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect East West Bancorp to earn $9.52 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.40 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 25.2%.

East West Bancorp Trading Down 0.6 %

NASDAQ:EWBC opened at $102.97 on Friday. East West Bancorp has a 52 week low of $67.27 and a 52 week high of $113.95. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $101.17 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $91.86. The firm has a market cap of $14.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 0.91.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

EWBC has been the topic of several research analyst reports. StockNews.com cut East West Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of East West Bancorp from $105.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. DA Davidson decreased their price objective on shares of East West Bancorp from $120.00 to $118.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 24th. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on shares of East West Bancorp from $100.00 to $97.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Compass Point increased their target price on shares of East West Bancorp from $110.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $110.38.

Insider Transactions at East West Bancorp

In other news, Director Jack C. Liu sold 1,275 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $104.53, for a total value of $133,275.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 14,557 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,521,643.21. This trade represents a 8.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Vice Chairman Douglas Paul Krause sold 12,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.61, for a total transaction of $1,279,320.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 45,403 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,840,413.83. This represents a 20.90 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 14,469 shares of company stock valued at $1,534,339 over the last three months. Company insiders own 1.04% of the company’s stock.

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.