Legacy Advisory Services LLC Purchases New Shares in East West Bancorp, Inc. $EWBC

Key Points

• Legacy Advisory Services LLC has acquired a new stake in East West Bancorp, purchasing 6,994 shares valued at approximately $628,000, which now represents 0.5% of its holdings.
• Analysts have raised their price targets for East West Bancorp, with Barclays setting a new target of $135.00 and Wells Fargo increasing it to $125.00, reflecting ongoing positive sentiment.
• East West Bancorp recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.60 per share, translating to an annualized dividend yield of 2.2%, with a payout ratio of 28.04%.

Legacy Advisory Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 6,994 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $628,000. East West Bancorp accounts for 0.5% of Legacy Advisory Services LLC's holdings, making the stock its 19th biggest position.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Picton Mahoney Asset Management grew its position in shares of East West Bancorp by 1,971.4% in the first quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management now owns 290 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 276 shares during the period. WPG Advisers LLC acquired a new position in East West Bancorp during the first quarter worth about $28,000. SVB Wealth LLC acquired a new position in East West Bancorp in the 1st quarter valued at about $29,000. Grove Bank & Trust raised its stake in shares of East West Bancorp by 448.9% in the 1st quarter. Grove Bank & Trust now owns 516 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 422 shares during the period. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc raised its stake in shares of East West Bancorp by 89.7% in the 1st quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 518 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 245 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.53% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on EWBC. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of East West Bancorp from $100.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price 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, July 23rd. Wall Street Zen cut shares of East West Bancorp from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Sunday, August 3rd. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of East West Bancorp from $110.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on shares of East West Bancorp from $124.00 to $134.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $116.08.

East West Bancorp Price Performance

East West Bancorp stock opened at $109.61 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The business has a 50-day moving average of $104.53 and a 200-day moving average of $94.22. East West Bancorp, Inc. has a 1 year low of $68.27 and a 1 year high of $113.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.80, a PEG ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 0.97.

East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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 company had revenue of $705.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $702.04 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.07 EPS. The business's revenue was up 10.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that East West Bancorp, Inc. will post 8.85 EPS for the current year.

East West Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 4th were given a dividend of $0.60 per share. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 4th. East West Bancorp's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 28.04%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other East West Bancorp news, Director Jack C. Liu sold 1,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, August 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.00, for a total value of $105,000.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 14,974 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,572,270. The trade was a 6.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Dominic Ng sold 40,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, July 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.38, for a total value of $4,135,200.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 888,314 shares in the company, valued at approximately $91,833,901.32. The trade was a 4.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 70,240 shares of company stock valued at $7,379,678. Company insiders own 1.04% of the company's stock.

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.

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