Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. Reduces Position in East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC)

Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. reduced its position in East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC) by 16.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,820 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 346 shares during the quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc.’s holdings in East West Bancorp were worth $174,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in EWBC. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC raised its holdings in shares of East West Bancorp by 25.7% in the second quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 12,204 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $894,000 after buying an additional 2,498 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in East West Bancorp by 10.7% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 234,315 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $17,159,000 after purchasing an additional 22,726 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in East West Bancorp by 3.1% in the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 164,835 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $12,071,000 after purchasing an additional 4,916 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of East West Bancorp by 7.0% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,822,886 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $133,480,000 after purchasing an additional 118,658 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Edgestream Partners L.P. purchased a new stake in shares of East West Bancorp during the second quarter valued at $4,334,000. Institutional investors own 89.53% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at East West Bancorp

In other news, Director Rudolph Estrada sold 469 shares of East West Bancorp stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.04, for a total transaction of $45,980.76. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 17,750 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,740,210. The trade was a 2.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction 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 company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.61, for a total value of $1,279,320.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 45,403 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,840,413.83. The trade was a 20.90 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 23,969 shares of company stock worth $2,458,276. 1.04% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

EWBC has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of 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 lifted their price target on shares of East West Bancorp from $87.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. DA Davidson boosted their price target on East West Bancorp from $100.00 to $107.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Compass Point raised their price objective on East West Bancorp from $110.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Stephens lowered East West Bancorp from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $109.77.

East West Bancorp Stock Performance

EWBC stock opened at $100.53 on Thursday. East West Bancorp, Inc. has a one year low of $67.27 and a one year high of $113.95. The firm has a market cap of $13.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.69, a PEG ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 0.92. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $101.56 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $89.72.

East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) last announced its 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 company had revenue of $1.16 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 period last year, the firm earned $2.02 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that East West Bancorp, Inc. will post 8.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

East West Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Monday, November 4th were given a dividend of $0.55 per share. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 4th. East West Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is currently 27.78%.

East West Bancorp Company 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.