HighTower Advisors LLC Raises Stock Position in East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC)

HighTower Advisors LLC raised its position in East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC) by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 10,888 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 392 shares during the quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in East West Bancorp were worth $900,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG purchased a new position in East West Bancorp in the third quarter worth approximately $4,157,000. Quest Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of East West Bancorp by 830,133.3% during the 3rd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 24,907 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,061,000 after purchasing an additional 24,904 shares during the period. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC grew its holdings in shares of East West Bancorp by 159.1% during the 3rd quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 29,587 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,448,000 after purchasing an additional 18,166 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC increased its position in shares of East West Bancorp by 7.3% during the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,804,288 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $149,287,000 after purchasing an additional 123,376 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its holdings in East West Bancorp by 58.7% in the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 44,858 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,712,000 after buying an additional 16,592 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.53% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have weighed in on EWBC. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of East West Bancorp from $87.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. DA Davidson boosted their target price on East West Bancorp from $100.00 to $107.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on East West Bancorp from $103.00 to $106.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. UBS Group assumed coverage on East West Bancorp in a research note on Tuesday. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $112.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price on East West Bancorp from $103.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $109.38.

East West Bancorp Stock Down 1.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ:EWBC opened at $100.18 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46. 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 cap of $13.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 1.28. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $100.68 and its 200 day moving average price is $86.21.

East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.09 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $641.80 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.02 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that East West Bancorp, Inc. will post 8.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

East West Bancorp Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Rudolph Estrada sold 469 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.04, for a total value of $45,980.76. Following the transaction, the director now owns 17,750 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,740,210. The trade was a 2.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Vice Chairman Douglas Paul Krause sold 12,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.61, for a total value of $1,279,320.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 45,403 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,840,413.83. This represents a 20.90 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 23,969 shares of company stock valued at $2,458,276. 1.04% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.