East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC) Shares Sold by JPMorgan Chase & Co.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced its position in East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC) by 8.7% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 351,782 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 33,413 shares during the quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s holdings in East West Bancorp were worth $29,106,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new stake in East West Bancorp during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new position in shares of East West Bancorp in the third quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. acquired a new position in shares of East West Bancorp in the second quarter valued at approximately $30,000. UMB Bank n.a. raised its stake in shares of East West Bancorp by 362.8% during the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 361 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 283 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tobam lifted its holdings in shares of East West Bancorp by 131.7% during the third quarter. Tobam now owns 482 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 274 shares during the period. 89.53% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other East West Bancorp news, Director Molly Campbell sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.65, for a total transaction of $147,975.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 10,639 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,049,537.35. This represents a 12.36 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Rudolph Estrada sold 469 shares of East West Bancorp stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.04, for a total transaction of $45,980.76. Following the sale, the director now owns 17,750 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,740,210. This represents a 2.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 23,969 shares of company stock valued at $2,458,276 over the last three months. 1.04% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on EWBC. Stephens downgraded shares of East West Bancorp from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Barclays raised their price target on East West Bancorp from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Citigroup lifted their price target on East West Bancorp from $103.00 to $109.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on East West Bancorp from $105.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of East West Bancorp from $96.00 to $128.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $109.77.

East West Bancorp Trading Down 1.4 %

EWBC stock opened at $95.56 on Wednesday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $101.95 and a 200 day moving average price of $88.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.92. East West Bancorp, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $67.27 and a fifty-two week high of $113.95. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.07, a P/E/G ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 1.30.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.06 by $0.03. East West Bancorp had a return on equity of 16.07% and a net margin of 24.96%. The company had revenue of $1.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $641.80 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.02 earnings per share. Analysts expect that East West Bancorp, Inc. will post 8.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

East West Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 4th were given a dividend of $0.55 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 4th. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.30%. East West Bancorp’s payout ratio is 27.78%.

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.