Seeds Investor LLC Sells 865 Shares of East West Bancorp, Inc. $EWBC

Seeds Investor LLC reduced its stake in shares of East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC) by 19.0% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 3,697 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 865 shares during the quarter. Seeds Investor LLC’s holdings in East West Bancorp were worth $373,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Picton Mahoney Asset Management boosted its stake in shares of East West Bancorp by 1,971.4% during the first quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management now owns 290 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 276 shares during the period. Park Place Capital Corp bought a new position in shares of East West Bancorp during the second quarter valued at about $27,000. WPG Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in shares of East West Bancorp during the first quarter worth about $28,000. SVB Wealth LLC purchased a new position in East West Bancorp during the 1st quarter valued at about $29,000. Finally, Chung Wu Investment Group LLC bought a new position in East West Bancorp during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $30,000. 89.53% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other East West Bancorp news, insider Irene H. Oh sold 7,639 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $109.40, for a total value of $835,706.60. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 105,714 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,565,111.60. The trade was a 6.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Vice Chairman Douglas Paul Krause sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.04, for a total value of $1,000,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 45,500 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,551,820. This represents a 18.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 42,220 shares of company stock valued at $4,446,488. 1.04% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on EWBC. Citigroup lifted their price objective on East West Bancorp from $124.00 to $134.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 8th. Truist Financial raised their price target on East West Bancorp from $112.00 to $116.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 23rd. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of East West Bancorp from $100.00 to $104.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, September 8th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of East West Bancorp from $140.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, UBS Group cut their target price on shares of East West Bancorp from $118.00 to $115.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $124.08.

East West Bancorp Stock Performance

Shares of East West Bancorp stock opened at $104.49 on Friday. East West Bancorp, Inc. has a 12 month low of $68.27 and a 12 month high of $113.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.52, a P/E/G ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $103.49 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $101.26.

East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, December 11th. The financial services provider reported $2.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. East West Bancorp had a net margin of 27.16% and a return on equity of 15.55%. The company had revenue of $627.36 million during the quarter. On average, equities analysts forecast that East West Bancorp, Inc. will post 8.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

East West Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.60 per share. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 3rd. East West Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.46%.

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.