East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) Announces Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.04 EPS

East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday. The financial services provider reported $2.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.72 by $0.04, FiscalAI reports. The company had revenue of $822.72 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $811.07 million. East West Bancorp had a return on equity of 16.07% and a net margin of 30.45%.

East West Bancorp Stock Up 2.2%

Shares of NASDAQ EWBC traded up $2.77 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $128.27. 1,088,626 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 955,041. East West Bancorp has a twelve month low of $97.55 and a twelve month high of $137.47. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The company has a market capitalization of $17.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 0.98. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $128.41 and its 200 day moving average price is $126.50.

Insider Activity at East West Bancorp

In other East West Bancorp news, Vice Chairman Douglas Krause sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $132.37, for a total transaction of $1,323,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 36,974 shares in the company, valued at $4,894,248.38. This trade represents a 21.29% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Jack C. Liu sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $135.02, for a total transaction of $135,020.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 13,709 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,850,989.18. The trade was a 6.80% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 11,810 shares of company stock valued at $1,564,344. Insiders own 0.94% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

EWBC has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on East West Bancorp from $160.00 to $164.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 28th. DA Davidson boosted their target price on shares of East West Bancorp from $150.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of East West Bancorp from $156.00 to $152.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, September 22nd. TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of East West Bancorp from $148.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 18th. Finally, Stephens raised their price objective on East West Bancorp from $129.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $143.62.

About East West Bancorp

East West Bancorp, Inc is the parent company of East West Bank, a full-service commercial bank headquartered in Pasadena, California. The bank serves businesses, professionals, consumers and institutions through a range of deposit, lending and financial services.

Its products and services include commercial and industrial loans, commercial real estate financing, residential and consumer lending, checking and savings accounts, treasury management, international banking, wealth management and foreign-exchange services.