Legal & General Group Plc Purchases New Shares in East West Bancorp, Inc. $EWBC

Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new position in East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC - Free Report) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 178,949 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $23,101,000. Legal & General Group Plc owned approximately 0.13% of East West Bancorp at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in shares of East West Bancorp in the second quarter worth approximately $1,744,958,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lifted its position in shares of East West Bancorp by 84,090.3% in the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 5,311,566 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $596,967,000 after acquiring an additional 5,305,257 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of East West Bancorp by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,981,065 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $559,822,000 after acquiring an additional 106,998 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP boosted its stake in East West Bancorp by 7.1% in the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 4,620,772 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $519,329,000 after purchasing an additional 306,916 shares during the period. Finally, Boston Partners boosted its stake in East West Bancorp by 19.6% in the 3rd quarter. Boston Partners now owns 3,874,737 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $412,464,000 after purchasing an additional 633,649 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.53% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

EWBC has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of East West Bancorp from $128.00 to $131.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, June 29th. Wall Street Zen upgraded East West Bancorp from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, August 1st. Weiss Ratings reissued a "buy (b)" rating on shares of East West Bancorp in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Citigroup reissued a "buy" rating on shares of East West Bancorp in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Finally, Truist Financial raised their price objective on East West Bancorp from $128.00 to $136.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, July 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $141.92.

East West Bancorp Stock Down 0.2%

EWBC stock opened at $129.44 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $131.47 and a two-hundred day moving average of $122.39. The company has a market cap of $17.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.45, a PEG ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 0.94. East West Bancorp, Inc. has a 12-month low of $92.67 and a 12-month high of $137.47. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33.

East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC - Get Free Report) last posted 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 net margin of 30.45% and a return on equity of 16.07%. The business had revenue of $789.98 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $784.47 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.24 EPS. East West Bancorp's revenue was up 12.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that East West Bancorp, Inc. will post 10.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

East West Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 3rd were paid a $0.80 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 3rd. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.5%. East West Bancorp's payout ratio is 30.77%.

Insider Buying and Selling at East West Bancorp

In other news, Vice Chairman Douglas Paul Krause sold 10,000 shares of East West Bancorp stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $132.37, for a total transaction of $1,323,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 36,974 shares in the company, valued at $4,894,248.38. The trade was a 21.29% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Jack C. Liu sold 1,000 shares of East West Bancorp stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $135.02, for a total value of $135,020.00. Following the sale, the director owned 13,709 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,850,989.18. This represents a 6.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 23,511 shares of company stock worth $3,077,741 over the last 90 days. 0.94% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About East West Bancorp

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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