Empowered Funds LLC Has $728,000 Stock Position in East West Bancorp, Inc. $EWBC

Key Points

• Empowered Funds LLC cut its East West Bancorp stake by 78.2% in the first quarter, leaving 6,815 shares valued at approximately $728,000. Institutional investors collectively own 89.53% of the company.
• East West Bancorp reported quarterly EPS of $2.63, exceeding estimates by $0.02, while revenue rose 12.5% year over year to $789.98 million. Analysts maintain a “Moderate Buy” consensus rating with an average price target of $141.77.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.80 per share, equivalent to $3.20 annually and a 2.4% yield. Shares recently opened at $131.85, near their 12-month high of $136.24.

Empowered Funds LLC lowered its stake in East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC - Free Report) by 78.2% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,815 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 24,441 shares during the quarter. Empowered Funds LLC's holdings in East West Bancorp were worth $728,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Infrastructure Capital Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of East West Bancorp by 15.5% in the first quarter. Infrastructure Capital Advisors LLC now owns 7,085 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $756,000 after acquiring an additional 952 shares in the last quarter. Maverick Capital Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of East West Bancorp in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $1,516,000. Quantinno Capital Management LP boosted its stake in East West Bancorp by 12.4% in the 1st quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 205,072 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $21,894,000 after purchasing an additional 22,622 shares during the period. SummitTX Capital L.P. purchased a new position in East West Bancorp during the 1st quarter worth approximately $2,741,000. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC raised its stake in East West Bancorp by 6.1% during the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 12,019 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,283,000 after purchasing an additional 692 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.53% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other East West Bancorp news, Vice Chairman Douglas Paul Krause sold 10,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $123.50, for a total transaction of $1,235,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 46,974 shares in the company, valued at $5,801,289. This represents a 17.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Irene H. Oh sold 11,211 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $129.00, for a total value of $1,446,219.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 85,998 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,093,742. This represents a 11.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 32,511 shares of company stock worth $4,177,721 over the last quarter. 0.94% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on EWBC shares. TD Cowen increased their target price on East West Bancorp from $137.00 to $143.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Wall Street Zen raised East West Bancorp from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, August 1st. Truist Financial lifted their target price on East West Bancorp from $128.00 to $136.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, July 10th. DA Davidson upped their target price on East West Bancorp from $150.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Finally, UBS Group increased their price target on shares of East West Bancorp from $125.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, East West Bancorp presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $141.77.

East West Bancorp Stock Up 0.1%

Shares of EWBC stock opened at $131.85 on Tuesday. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $130.14 and its 200 day simple moving average is $120.79. East West Bancorp, Inc. has a twelve month low of $92.67 and a twelve month high of $136.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.88. The company has a market capitalization of $18.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.68, a PEG ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 0.94.

East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 21st. The financial services provider reported $2.63 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.61 by $0.02. East West Bancorp had a return on equity of 16.07% and a net margin of 30.45%.The company had revenue of $789.98 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $784.47 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.24 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 12.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that East West Bancorp, Inc. will post 10.59 EPS for the current year.

East West Bancorp Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 17th. Investors of record on Monday, August 3rd will be paid a $0.80 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 3rd. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.4%. East West Bancorp's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 30.77%.

East West Bancorp 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.

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