Strategic Global Advisors LLC Takes $4.44 Million Position in East West Bancorp, Inc. $EWBC

Strategic Global Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund purchased 39,494 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $4,439,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of EWBC. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lifted its position in shares of East West Bancorp by 84,090.3% during the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 5,311,566 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $596,967,000 after acquiring an additional 5,305,257 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of East West Bancorp during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $199,529,000. Boston Partners lifted its position in shares of East West Bancorp by 19.6% during the 3rd quarter. Boston Partners now owns 3,874,737 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $412,464,000 after acquiring an additional 633,649 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of East West Bancorp by 61.9% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,418,174 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $143,207,000 after acquiring an additional 542,149 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE lifted its position in shares of East West Bancorp by 23.6% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 2,051,360 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $207,146,000 after acquiring an additional 391,059 shares during the period. 89.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at East West Bancorp

In other news, insider Irene H. Oh sold 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $132.50, for a total transaction of $66,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 85,498 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,328,485. The trade was a 0.58% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Dominic Ng sold 30,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $123.49, for a total transaction of $3,704,700.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 707,930 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $87,422,275.70. This represents a 4.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 53,511 shares of company stock valued at $6,678,159 over the last quarter. 0.94% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on EWBC shares. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of East West Bancorp from $141.00 to $128.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 31st. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of East West Bancorp from $139.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. DA Davidson lifted their price target on shares of East West Bancorp from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Truist Financial lifted their price target on shares of East West Bancorp from $120.00 to $128.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of East West Bancorp from $137.00 to $143.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, East West Bancorp presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $133.69.

East West Bancorp Stock Performance

Shares of EWBC opened at $132.63 on Monday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $121.33 and a two-hundred day moving average of $115.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.88. The company has a market capitalization of $18.17 billion, a PE ratio of 13.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 0.94. East West Bancorp, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $90.79 and a fifty-two week high of $132.88.

East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 21st. The financial services provider reported $2.57 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.46 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $773.75 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $767.80 million. East West Bancorp had a return on equity of 16.00% and a net margin of 29.59%.East West Bancorp’s revenue was up 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.08 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that East West Bancorp, Inc. will post 10.6 EPS for the current year.

East West Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 4th were paid a dividend of $0.80 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 4th. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.4%. East West Bancorp’s payout ratio is currently 31.97%.

East West Bancorp Company Profile

East West Bancorp, Inc is a bank holding company and the parent of East West Bank, one of the largest independent banks headquartered in Southern California. As a full-service commercial bank, it provides a broad range of financial products and services to business and individual customers, including commercial and residential real estate lending, working capital lines of credit, trade finance, and deposit and treasury management services. The company caters to both large and middle-market businesses, leveraging its expertise to serve clients engaged in cross-border trade and investment between the United States and Greater China.

Founded in Los Angeles in the early 1970s, East West Bank has grown steadily through organic expansion and strategic branch openings.