Legacy Advisory Services LLC Takes $628,000 Position 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 bought a new stake in shares of East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 6,994 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $628,000. East West Bancorp makes up 0.5% of Legacy Advisory Services LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 19th largest holding.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of EWBC. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV lifted its position in East West Bancorp by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 6,258 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $599,000 after purchasing an additional 223 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its position in shares of East West Bancorp by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 386,417 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $37,003,000 after acquiring an additional 4,977 shares in the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. purchased a new position in shares of East West Bancorp in the fourth quarter valued at about $447,000. Captrust Financial Advisors lifted its position in shares of East West Bancorp by 11.1% in the fourth quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 3,351 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $321,000 after acquiring an additional 335 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its position in shares of East West Bancorp by 18.0% in the fourth quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 21,411 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $2,050,000 after acquiring an additional 3,260 shares in the last quarter. 89.53% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

EWBC has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on East West Bancorp from $102.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on East West Bancorp from $110.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on East West Bancorp from $100.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on East West Bancorp from $100.00 to $104.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, September 8th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on East West Bancorp from $110.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $116.64.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other East West Bancorp news, Director Jack C. Liu sold 1,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.00, for a total transaction of $105,000.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 14,974 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,572,270. The trade was a 6.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Dominic Ng sold 40,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.38, for a total value of $4,135,200.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 888,314 shares in the company, valued at $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. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 70,240 shares of company stock valued at $7,379,678. Insiders own 1.04% of the company's stock.

East West Bancorp Trading Up 0.1%

NASDAQ EWBC traded up $0.11 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $109.38. 1,045,442 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 785,968. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $104.62 and a 200 day moving average price of $94.64. The company has a quick ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. East West Bancorp, Inc. has a 52 week low of $68.27 and a 52 week high of $113.95. The stock has a market cap of $15.07 billion, a PE ratio of 12.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 0.97.

East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.28 earnings per share 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 company had revenue of $705.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $702.04 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.07 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 10.3% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that East West Bancorp, Inc. will post 8.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

East West Bancorp Announces Dividend

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