East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) Price Target Lowered to $142.00 at Barclays

East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) had its price objective cut by research analysts at Barclays from $150.00 to $142.00 in a report issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “overweight” rating on the financial services provider’s stock. Barclays‘s target price suggests a potential upside of 28.87% from the stock’s current price.

Several other analysts also recently commented on the stock. Zacks Research downgraded shares of East West Bancorp from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 24th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of East West Bancorp from $141.00 to $128.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 31st. TD Cowen cut their price objective on shares of East West Bancorp from $141.00 to $140.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 26th. Stephens raised their price target on shares of East West Bancorp from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, January 26th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of East West Bancorp from $131.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 23rd. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, East West Bancorp currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $127.36.

East West Bancorp Stock Up 0.2%

EWBC stock traded up $0.24 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $110.19. 280,438 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,148,009. East West Bancorp has a 1 year low of $68.27 and a 1 year high of $123.82. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $111.81 and its two-hundred day moving average is $109.39. The stock has a market cap of $15.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.89.

East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.52 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.48 by $0.04. East West Bancorp had a net margin of 28.36% and a return on equity of 15.72%. The company had revenue of $753.79 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $745.04 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.10 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that East West Bancorp will post 8.85 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at East West Bancorp

In other news, Director Molly Campbell sold 1,800 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $122.81, for a total value of $221,058.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 5,756 shares in the company, valued at $706,894.36. This represents a 23.82% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Dominic Ng sold 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $117.82, for a total transaction of $5,891,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 808,331 shares in the company, valued at $95,237,558.42. This trade represents a 5.83% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 60,221 shares of company stock worth $7,139,287 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 1.04% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On East West Bancorp

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Quarry LP raised its stake in East West Bancorp by 35.4% during the 3rd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 390 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 102 shares during the period. Quadrant Capital Group LLC raised its stake in East West Bancorp by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 5,674 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $604,000 after acquiring an additional 102 shares during the period. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT raised its stake in East West Bancorp by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT now owns 9,195 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,033,000 after acquiring an additional 102 shares during the period. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd raised its stake in East West Bancorp by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd now owns 6,404 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $720,000 after acquiring an additional 104 shares during the period. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in East West Bancorp by 4.3% during the 3rd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,602 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $277,000 after acquiring an additional 108 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 89.53% of the company’s stock.

About East West Bancorp

East West Bancorp, Inc is a bank holding company and the parent of East West Bank, one of the largest independent banks headquartered in Southern California. As a full-service commercial bank, it provides a broad range of financial products and services to business and individual customers, including commercial and residential real estate lending, working capital lines of credit, trade finance, and deposit and treasury management services. The company caters to both large and middle-market businesses, leveraging its expertise to serve clients engaged in cross-border trade and investment between the United States and Greater China.

Founded in Los Angeles in the early 1970s, East West Bank has grown steadily through organic expansion and strategic branch openings.