East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC) Shares Bought by HighTower Advisors LLC

HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC) by 3.7% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 10,888 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 392 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in East West Bancorp were worth $900,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. FMR LLC raised its position in East West Bancorp by 1.8% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,882,803 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $652,223,000 after acquiring an additional 136,528 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of East West Bancorp by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,231,953 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $350,152,000 after purchasing an additional 96,729 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of East West Bancorp by 7.0% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,822,886 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $133,480,000 after purchasing an additional 118,658 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its holdings in East West Bancorp by 7.3% during the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,804,288 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $149,287,000 after buying an additional 123,376 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. acquired a new position in East West Bancorp during the second quarter worth about $59,460,000. 89.53% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, Vice Chairman Douglas Paul Krause sold 12,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.61, for a total value of $1,279,320.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 45,403 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,840,413.83. This trade represents a 20.90 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Rudolph Estrada sold 469 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.04, for a total value of $45,980.76. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 17,750 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,740,210. This trade represents a 2.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 23,969 shares of company stock valued at $2,458,276 in the last 90 days. 1.04% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

East West Bancorp Stock Performance

Shares of EWBC opened at $100.18 on Wednesday. East West Bancorp, Inc. has a 1 year low of $67.27 and a 1 year high of $113.95. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $100.68 and its 200 day simple moving average is $86.21. The company has a market capitalization of $13.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.65, a PEG ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 0.92.

East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.09 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.06 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $1.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $641.80 million. East West Bancorp had a return on equity of 16.07% and a net margin of 24.96%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.02 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that East West Bancorp, Inc. will post 8.39 EPS for the current year.

East West Bancorp Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently commented on EWBC. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on East West Bancorp from $103.00 to $106.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on East West Bancorp from $87.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on East West Bancorp from $96.00 to $128.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Stephens lowered shares of East West Bancorp from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of East West Bancorp from $93.00 to $101.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $109.38.

East West Bancorp Profile

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.