East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC) Shares Bought by Cwm LLC

CWM LLC grew its stake in East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC - Free Report) by 128.8% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 10,674 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 6,009 shares during the quarter. CWM LLC's holdings in East West Bancorp were worth $958,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in East West Bancorp by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,197,068 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,359,511,000 after acquiring an additional 70,503 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its position in East West Bancorp by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,990,468 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $765,167,000 after acquiring an additional 107,665 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in East West Bancorp by 17.0% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,018,504 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $289,052,000 after acquiring an additional 437,676 shares during the period. Schroder Investment Management Group grew its stake in East West Bancorp by 6.9% during the fourth quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 2,831,862 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $272,652,000 after buying an additional 183,675 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lord Abbett & CO. LLC grew its stake in East West Bancorp by 20.9% during the fourth quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC now owns 1,876,438 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $179,688,000 after buying an additional 324,410 shares in the last quarter. 89.53% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Lisa L. Kim sold 2,100 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $95.04, for a total transaction of $199,584.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 14,849 shares in the company, valued at $1,411,248.96. The trade was a 12.39% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Dominic Ng sold 40,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.43, for a total value of $3,857,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 928,314 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $89,517,319.02. The trade was a 4.13% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.04% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on EWBC shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of East West Bancorp from $110.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of East West Bancorp from $100.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of East West Bancorp from $110.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. DA Davidson raised their price target on shares of East West Bancorp from $115.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of East West Bancorp in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. They issued a "buy" rating and a $115.00 price target on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $114.15.

East West Bancorp Stock Performance

Shares of East West Bancorp stock traded up $0.10 during trading on Friday, hitting $103.61. 948,042 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 946,676. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.10, a PEG ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.89. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $98.97 and a 200-day simple moving average of $93.61. East West Bancorp, Inc. has a 1 year low of $68.27 and a 1 year high of $113.95.

East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.28 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.23 by $0.05. East West Bancorp had a return on equity of 15.09% and a net margin of 26.06%. The firm had revenue of $705.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $702.04 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.07 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 10.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that East West Bancorp, Inc. will post 8.85 EPS for the current year.

East West Bancorp Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 4th will be paid a $0.60 dividend. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.32%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 4th. East West Bancorp's payout ratio is 28.04%.

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.