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

East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, July 23rd, Zacks reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 2nd will be given a dividend of 0.55 per share by the financial services provider on Friday, August 16th. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.61%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 2nd.

East West Bancorp has raised 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. Equities research analysts expect East West Bancorp to earn $8.33 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 26.4%.

East West Bancorp Price Performance

NASDAQ:EWBC opened at $84.41 on Thursday. East West Bancorp has a 52 week low of $49.59 and a 52 week high of $87.75. The company has a quick ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. The company has a market capitalization of $11.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.63, a P/E/G ratio of 5.04 and a beta of 1.32. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $74.12 and its two-hundred day moving average is $74.12.

East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.07 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.97 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $638.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $631.61 million. East West Bancorp had a return on equity of 16.85% and a net margin of 25.40%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.20 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that East West Bancorp will post 8.02 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently issued reports on EWBC. Stephens boosted their price objective on East West Bancorp from $86.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company boosted 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. StockNews.com upgraded East West Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Barclays cut their price objective on East West Bancorp from $106.00 to $105.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, June 24th. Finally, DA Davidson boosted their price objective on East West Bancorp from $92.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $87.53.

Insider Transactions at East West Bancorp

In other news, Vice Chairman Douglas Paul Krause sold 8,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.76, for a total transaction of $590,080.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 57,403 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,234,045.28. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, insider Irene H. Oh sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.58, for a total value of $775,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 127,193 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,867,632.94. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Vice Chairman Douglas Paul Krause sold 8,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.76, for a total value of $590,080.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 57,403 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,234,045.28. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 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.