The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Lowers Stock Holdings in East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC)

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company reduced its stake in East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC) by 0.9% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 597,390 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 5,130 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company’s holdings in East West Bancorp were worth $49,428,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of EWBC. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its stake in East West Bancorp by 55.5% in the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 99,386 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $7,859,000 after purchasing an additional 35,453 shares in the last quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd raised its stake in East West Bancorp by 6,562.5% in the first quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd now owns 2,665 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $211,000 after purchasing an additional 2,625 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in East West Bancorp in the first quarter valued at approximately $278,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of East West Bancorp by 106.5% during the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,431 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $178,000 after acquiring an additional 1,254 shares in the last quarter. Finally, M&R Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of East West Bancorp by 5.3% during the second quarter. M&R Capital Management Inc. now owns 40,525 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,968,000 after acquiring an additional 2,053 shares in the last quarter. 89.53% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Molly Campbell sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.65, for a total transaction of $147,975.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 10,639 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,049,537.35. The trade was a 12.36 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Vice Chairman Douglas Paul Krause sold 12,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.61, for a total transaction of $1,279,320.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 45,403 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,840,413.83. This trade represents a 20.90 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 23,969 shares of company stock worth $2,458,276. Corporate insiders own 1.04% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have commented on EWBC shares. Wedbush lifted their price target on shares of East West Bancorp from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of East West Bancorp from $108.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of East West Bancorp from $103.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of East West Bancorp from $87.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their price target on shares of East West Bancorp from $93.00 to $101.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $102.25.

East West Bancorp Stock Performance

NASDAQ:EWBC opened at $110.05 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $15.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.27. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $94.72 and its 200 day simple moving average is $83.41. East West Bancorp, Inc. has a twelve month low of $60.34 and a twelve month high of $113.95. The company has a quick ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46.

East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.09 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.06 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $1.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $641.80 million. East West Bancorp had a net margin of 24.96% and a return on equity of 16.07%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.02 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that East West Bancorp, Inc. will post 8.37 EPS for the current year.

East West Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 4th were issued a dividend of $0.55 per share. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.00%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 4th. East West Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.78%.

About East West Bancorp

East West Bancorp, Inc operates as the bank holding company for East West Bank that provides a range of personal and commercial banking services to businesses and individuals in the United States. The company operates through three segments: Consumer and Business Banking, Commercial Banking, and Other.