East West Bancorp, Inc. (EWBC) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.80 on August 17th

East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, July 21st. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 3rd will be given a dividend of 0.80 per share by the financial services provider on Monday, August 17th. This represents a c) dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 3rd.

East West Bancorp has raised its dividend by an average of 0.2%annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 8 consecutive years. East West Bancorp has a payout ratio of 33.5% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect East West Bancorp to earn $11.23 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $3.20 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 28.5%.

East West Bancorp Price Performance

EWBC stock opened at $131.00 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.88. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.95 billion, a PE ratio of 12.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 0.94. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $129.01 and a 200-day simple moving average of $120.00. East West Bancorp has a 1 year low of $92.67 and a 1 year high of $136.24.

East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 21st. The financial services provider reported $2.63 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.61 by $0.02. East West Bancorp had a return on equity of 16.07% and a net margin of 30.45%.The company had revenue of $791.14 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $784.47 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.24 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 12.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that East West Bancorp will post 10.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently commented on EWBC shares. UBS Group increased their price objective on East West Bancorp from $125.00 to $138.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Stephens raised their price target on East West Bancorp from $129.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 22nd. TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of East West Bancorp from $137.00 to $143.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of East West Bancorp in a report on Friday, July 10th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of East West Bancorp from $142.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, East West Bancorp has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $140.23.

East West Bancorp Company Profile

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.