Insider Selling: East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) Insider Sells 800 Shares of Stock

East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC) insider Irene Oh sold 800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $133.19, for a total value of $106,552.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 84,698 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,280,926.62. This represents a 0.94% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink.

East West Bancorp Trading Down 0.5%

NASDAQ:EWBC traded down $0.70 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $130.62. 1,057,385 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,034,670. East West Bancorp, Inc. has a 12-month low of $90.79 and a 12-month high of $136.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.05, a PEG ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.88. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $121.77 and a 200-day moving average price of $115.84.

East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 21st. The financial services provider reported $2.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.46 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $773.75 million for 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.08 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that East West Bancorp, Inc. will post 10.6 earnings per share for the current year.

East West Bancorp Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

EWBC has been the topic of several research reports. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on East West Bancorp from $111.00 to $123.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on East West Bancorp from $139.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $133.00 price objective on shares of East West Bancorp in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. DA Davidson lifted their price objective on East West Bancorp from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on East West Bancorp from $125.00 to $138.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, East West Bancorp currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $133.69.

Institutional Trading of East West Bancorp

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. boosted its position in shares of East West Bancorp by 84,090.3% in the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 5,311,566 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $596,967,000 after purchasing an additional 5,305,257 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of East West Bancorp by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,981,065 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $559,822,000 after purchasing an additional 106,998 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of East West Bancorp by 7.1% in the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 4,620,772 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $519,329,000 after purchasing an additional 306,916 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners lifted its position in East West Bancorp by 19.6% in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Schroder Investment Management Group lifted its position in East West Bancorp by 9.4% in the 4th quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 3,713,679 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $423,619,000 after acquiring an additional 318,303 shares in the last quarter. 89.53% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About East West Bancorp

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.