The stock prices of some of the largest publicly traded banks in Los Angeles County have been up and down amid recent announcements from the financial institutions.

When East West Bancorp Inc. in Pasadena announced its quarterly earnings after the market closed on Jan. 23, its share price fell by a fraction of a percent, from a close on Jan. 23 of $102.90 to a close of $102.33 on Jan. 24. The 2.1 million shares traded that day represents the highest trading volume of the year and the sixth highest in the past 52-week period.

The stock closed at $102.07 on Feb. 6 on the Nasdaq market.

And when American Business Bank in downtown reported its quarterly earnings before the market opened on Jan. 29, its share price closed at $44.28, 2% higher than the close on Jan. 28 of $43.39.

The stock closed at $46.00 on Feb. 6 on the over-the-counter market.

Banks see increase in share price this year

As of the Feb. 5 close of $46.99, American Business Bank’s stock price has increased by nearly 8% since the beginning of the year when its shares closed at $43.55.

In its most recent earnings, the bank reported net income of $12.5 million ($1.33 a share) for the quarter that ended Dec. 31, an increase of 10% compared to the net income of $11.4 million ($1.23) in the same period of the previous year. Total assets grew by 3.5% from the fourth quarter of the prior year to $4 billion.

Leon Blankstein, the chief executive of the bank, said that the fourth quarter’s loan growth of nearly 5% was significant.

“It propels our net interest margin expansion and should increase profitability in the future as the balance sheet continues to adjust to the higher rate environment,” Blankstein said in a statement.

He added that the announcement from Jan. 14 about the bank’s first ever share repurchase program showed its continued evolution.

“Share repurchases provide an important tool for managing capital levels, improving shareholder returns and providing additional liquidity for shareholders to sell shares,” Blankstein said in a statement.

“This new program provides the opportunity to repurchase shares over the next year and to highlight the Bank’s strong long-term financial performance. We believe that repurchases represent a value-enhancing deployment of capital,” he added.

East West growth

In its fourth quarter earnings, East West reported a net income of $293 million ($2.10 a share) for the period ending Dec. 31, a 22% increase compared with net income of $239 million ($1.69) in the same period the previous year. Total assets increased by 8% from the fourth quarter of the prior year to $75 billion.

Dominic Ng, chief executive of East West, said last year the bank saw record revenue, net income and earnings per share.

“We grew deposits by over $7 billion, reflecting the strength of our customer relationships,” Ng said in a statement. “Fee income grew 12% year-over-year to a new record level, with notable strength in wealth management, lending, and deposit account fees.”

The bank’s stock price has increased by nearly 8% from the start of the year when it closed at $93.92 on Jan. 2 and as of Feb. 5 when it closed at $101.36.

Other publicly traded banks in Los Angeles County include RBB Bancorp in the City West neighborhood north of downtown, Hanmi Financial Corp. in Koreatown, Cathay General Bancorp in Chinatown, Hope Bancorp Inc. in Koreatown, Broadway Financial Corp. in Hancock Park and Preferred Bank and City National Bank, a subsidiary of Royal Bank of Canada, in downtown.