Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Boosts Stock Position in East West Bancorp, Inc. $EWBC

Key Points

• Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund increased its East West Bancorp stake by 42.5% in Q1, buying 9,360 more shares and bringing its total to 31,406 shares worth about $3.35 million.
• Wall Street remains broadly constructive on EWBC, with 10 Buy ratings and 5 Hold ratings; the consensus price target is $138.31, and several firms recently raised their targets.
• East West Bancorp reported strong quarterly results, earning $2.57 per share versus the $2.46 estimate and posting revenue of $773.75 million, while also maintaining a 2.4% dividend yield.

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund boosted its stake in shares of East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC - Free Report) by 42.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 31,406 shares of the financial services provider's stock after buying an additional 9,360 shares during the period. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund's holdings in East West Bancorp were worth $3,353,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in EWBC. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its stake in shares of East West Bancorp by 84,090.3% in the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 5,311,566 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $596,967,000 after acquiring an additional 5,305,257 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in East West Bancorp in the 4th quarter worth about $199,529,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in East West Bancorp by 281.3% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,607,314 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $180,647,000 after purchasing an additional 1,185,781 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners raised its holdings in East West Bancorp by 19.6% in the third quarter. Boston Partners now owns 3,874,737 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $412,464,000 after buying an additional 633,649 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in East West Bancorp by 61.9% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,418,174 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $143,207,000 after buying an additional 542,149 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.53% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

EWBC has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of East West Bancorp from $145.00 to $154.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, June 25th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on East West Bancorp from $128.00 to $131.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, June 29th. Truist Financial increased 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. 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 research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Finally, DA Davidson lifted their target price on East West Bancorp from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a 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, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $138.31.

Insider Activity at East West Bancorp

In other news, CEO Dominic Ng sold 30,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $123.49, for a total value of $3,704,700.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 707,930 shares in the company, valued at $87,422,275.70. This trade represents a 4.07% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Vice Chairman Douglas Paul Krause sold 10,000 shares of East West Bancorp stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $123.50, for a total value of $1,235,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 46,974 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,801,289. The trade was a 17.55% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 54,311 shares of company stock valued at $6,784,711 in the last quarter. 0.94% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

East West Bancorp Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ EWBC opened at $134.52 on Friday. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $127.00 and its 200-day moving average price is $118.89. East West Bancorp, Inc. has a 52-week low of $92.67 and a 52-week high of $136.24. The company has a market cap of $18.43 billion, a PE ratio of 13.44, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34.

East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 21st. The financial services provider reported $2.57 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.46 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $773.75 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $767.80 million. East West Bancorp had a net margin of 29.59% and a return on equity of 16.00%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.08 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that East West Bancorp, Inc. will post 10.56 EPS for the current year.

East West Bancorp Announces Dividend

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

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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