East West Bancorp, Inc. $EWBC Shares Sold by Vanguard Group Inc.

Vanguard Group Inc. lowered its position in East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC) by 1.5% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 13,632,779 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 207,574 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned 0.10% of East West Bancorp worth $1,532,188,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in EWBC. Boston Partners increased its stake in shares of East West Bancorp by 19.6% in the third quarter. Boston Partners now owns 3,874,737 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $412,464,000 after purchasing an additional 633,649 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of East West Bancorp by 61.9% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,418,174 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $143,207,000 after purchasing an additional 542,149 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE increased its stake in shares of East West Bancorp by 23.6% in the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 2,051,360 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $207,146,000 after purchasing an additional 391,059 shares during the period. Fiera Capital Corp acquired a new stake in shares of East West Bancorp in the third quarter valued at approximately $41,243,000. Finally, Schroder Investment Management Group increased its stake in shares of East West Bancorp by 10.9% in the third quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 3,395,376 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $361,879,000 after purchasing an additional 334,429 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.53% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at East West Bancorp

In other East West Bancorp news, Director Jack C. Liu sold 1,421 shares of East West Bancorp stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $119.00, for a total value of $169,099.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 13,553 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,612,807. The trade was a 9.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Gary Teo sold 7,000 shares of East West Bancorp stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $122.59, for a total transaction of $858,130.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 5,252 shares in the company, valued at approximately $643,842.68. The trade was a 57.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 62,021 shares of company stock valued at $7,365,277 in the last 90 days. 0.94% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

East West Bancorp Trading Up 1.4%

East West Bancorp stock opened at $126.47 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.88. The firm has a market cap of $17.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 0.90. East West Bancorp, Inc. has a 1 year low of $85.02 and a 1 year high of $127.00. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $112.48 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $111.03.

East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 21st. The financial services provider reported $2.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.46 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $773.75 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $767.80 million. East West Bancorp had a net margin of 29.59% and a return on equity of 16.00%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.08 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that East West Bancorp, Inc. will post 10.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

East West Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 4th will be given a $0.80 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 4th. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.5%. East West Bancorp’s payout ratio is 31.97%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on EWBC. DA Davidson raised their price target on shares of East West Bancorp from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of East West Bancorp from $131.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of East West Bancorp from $139.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $133.00 price objective on shares of East West Bancorp in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Finally, Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of East West Bancorp from $120.00 to $128.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, East West Bancorp currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $132.36.

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.