East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) Stock Rating Lowered by Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating in a research report report published on Monday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The brokerage currently has $90.00 price target on the financial services provider’s stock, down from their previous price target of $118.00.

Other analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. UBS Group assumed coverage on shares of East West Bancorp in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $112.00 price target for the company. DA Davidson cut their target price on shares of East West Bancorp from $120.00 to $118.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Stephens downgraded East West Bancorp from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. StockNews.com cut East West Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, March 28th. Finally, Piper Sandler decreased their target price on East West Bancorp from $100.00 to $97.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $109.15.

East West Bancorp Stock Performance

East West Bancorp stock opened at $72.32 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.01 billion, a PE ratio of 8.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.09. East West Bancorp has a one year low of $68.78 and a one year high of $113.95. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $92.86 and its 200 day moving average price is $95.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 0.91.

East West Bancorp Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were given a $0.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 3rd. This is a positive change from East West Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.32%. East West Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 28.81%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Jack C. Liu sold 1,275 shares of East West Bancorp stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $104.53, for a total transaction of $133,275.75. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 14,557 shares in the company, valued at $1,521,643.21. The trade was a 8.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Dominic Ng sold 20,181 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.01, for a total transaction of $1,816,491.81. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 988,133 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $88,941,851.33. This represents a 2.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 62,181 shares of company stock valued at $5,625,732 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 1.04% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of East West Bancorp

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in EWBC. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of East West Bancorp in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $166,590,000. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its position in East West Bancorp by 1,667.7% in the fourth quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 670,156 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $64,174,000 after purchasing an additional 632,245 shares during the period. Boston Partners lifted its position in East West Bancorp by 23.1% in the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 2,383,284 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $228,269,000 after purchasing an additional 447,057 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in East West Bancorp by 17.0% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,018,504 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $289,052,000 after purchasing an additional 437,676 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of East West Bancorp by 10,357.5% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 367,477 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $32,985,000 after purchasing an additional 363,963 shares during the period. 89.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About East West Bancorp

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.