Bank of New York Mellon Corp Cuts Stake in East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC)

Bank of New York Mellon Corp cut its stake in shares of East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC) by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,573,596 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 20,764 shares during the quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp’s holdings in East West Bancorp were worth $115,234,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its stake in East West Bancorp by 30.5% during the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,215,701 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $231,370,000 after purchasing an additional 751,944 shares in the last quarter. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY bought a new stake in shares of East West Bancorp during the first quarter valued at approximately $39,347,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in East West Bancorp in the 1st quarter worth approximately $3,961,000. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC bought a new position in East West Bancorp in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $3,832,000. Finally, Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC lifted its position in East West Bancorp by 193.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 17,005 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,224,000 after acquiring an additional 11,208 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.53% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Jack C. Liu sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.50, for a total transaction of $167,000.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 16,557 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,382,509.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, Director Jack C. Liu sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.50, for a total value of $167,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 16,557 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,382,509.50. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Lisa L. Kim sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.68, for a total value of $472,080.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 18,891 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,486,343.88. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 13,346 shares of company stock worth $1,108,160 over the last three months. 1.04% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

East West Bancorp Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of East West Bancorp stock opened at $81.98 on Wednesday. East West Bancorp, Inc. has a 1-year low of $49.59 and a 1-year high of $89.75. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $78.23 and its 200-day simple moving average is $75.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.92. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.41 billion, a PE ratio of 10.32, a P/E/G ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 1.32.

East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.07 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.97 by $0.10. East West Bancorp had a return on equity of 16.64% and a net margin of 25.40%. The company had revenue of $638.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $631.61 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.20 earnings per share. East West Bancorp’s quarterly revenue was down .9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that East West Bancorp, Inc. will post 8.15 earnings per share for the current year.

East West Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 2nd were issued a dividend of $0.55 per share. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 2nd. East West Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is currently 27.71%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

EWBC has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. DA Davidson lifted their target price on East West Bancorp from $92.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on East West Bancorp from $95.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of East West Bancorp from $72.50 to $92.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of East West Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their price objective on shares of East West Bancorp from $80.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $89.53.

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.