Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB Acquires New Position in East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC)

Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new position in shares of East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC) in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm bought 316 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $26,000.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Covestor Ltd boosted its holdings in East West Bancorp by 7.4% in the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,537 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $128,000 after buying an additional 106 shares during the period. CIBC Asset Management Inc boosted its holdings in shares of East West Bancorp by 2.8% in the second quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 4,753 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $348,000 after acquiring an additional 128 shares during the period. Lindenwold Advisors INC grew its position in shares of East West Bancorp by 1.8% in the third quarter. Lindenwold Advisors INC now owns 7,270 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $602,000 after purchasing an additional 129 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC lifted its holdings in East West Bancorp by 3.8% during the 2nd quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 3,606 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $264,000 after purchasing an additional 133 shares in the last quarter. Finally, US Bancorp DE lifted its holdings in East West Bancorp by 7.8% during the 3rd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 1,949 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $161,000 after purchasing an additional 141 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.53% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Rudolph Estrada sold 469 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 17,750 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,740,210. This represents a 2.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Molly Campbell sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.65, for a total value of $147,975.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 10,639 shares in the company, valued at $1,049,537.35. The trade was a 12.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 23,969 shares of company stock valued at $2,458,276. 1.04% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

East West Bancorp Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ EWBC opened at $96.30 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $101.37 and its 200 day moving average is $86.87. The stock has a market cap of $13.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.16, a P/E/G ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 1.28. East West Bancorp, Inc. has a 1-year low of $67.27 and a 1-year high of $113.95. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46.

East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.09 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.06 by $0.03. East West Bancorp had a net margin of 24.96% and a return on equity of 16.07%. The firm had revenue of $1.16 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $641.80 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.02 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that East West Bancorp, Inc. will post 8.39 EPS for the current fiscal 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 given a dividend of $0.55 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 4th. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.28%. East West Bancorp’s payout ratio is 27.78%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on EWBC shares. UBS Group initiated coverage on East West Bancorp in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $112.00 price target on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of East West Bancorp from $105.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. DA Davidson boosted their price target on shares of East West Bancorp from $100.00 to $107.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. StockNews.com upgraded East West Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, Stephens cut East West Bancorp from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $109.77.

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.