Lord Abbett & CO. LLC Acquires 324,410 Shares of East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC)

Lord Abbett & CO. LLC boosted its stake in East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC - Free Report) by 20.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,876,438 shares of the financial services provider's stock after buying an additional 324,410 shares during the quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC owned approximately 1.35% of East West Bancorp worth $179,688,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of EWBC. Pinebridge Investments L.P. increased its position in shares of East West Bancorp by 5.1% during the fourth quarter. Pinebridge Investments L.P. now owns 98,388 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $9,422,000 after acquiring an additional 4,731 shares during the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC increased its position in shares of East West Bancorp by 14.5% during the 4th quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 21,257 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $2,043,000 after purchasing an additional 2,692 shares during the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC raised its stake in shares of East West Bancorp by 4.3% during the 4th quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 14,544 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,393,000 after purchasing an additional 598 shares during the period. Natixis purchased a new position in East West Bancorp in the fourth quarter valued at about $136,000. Finally, MetLife Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in East West Bancorp by 9.1% during the fourth quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 78,135 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $7,482,000 after purchasing an additional 6,510 shares during the period. 89.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on EWBC. DA Davidson cut their price target on East West Bancorp from $118.00 to $100.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of East West Bancorp from $120.00 to $100.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Piper Sandler dropped their price target on shares of East West Bancorp from $100.00 to $97.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of East West Bancorp from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded East West Bancorp from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Friday, March 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $105.46.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Dominic Ng sold 19,819 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.00, for a total transaction of $1,783,710.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 968,314 shares in the company, valued at approximately $87,148,260. This represents a 2.01 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Jack C. Liu sold 1,275 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $104.53, for a total value of $133,275.75. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 14,557 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,521,643.21. The trade was a 8.05 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 61,456 shares of company stock worth $5,549,969. Corporate insiders own 1.04% of the company's stock.

East West Bancorp Price Performance

East West Bancorp stock traded down $1.83 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $84.48. 210,617 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 923,798. The company has a market cap of $11.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.14, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 0.91. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $84.92 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $94.86. East West Bancorp, Inc. has a 52-week low of $68.27 and a 52-week high of $113.95.

East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.09 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.05 by $0.04. East West Bancorp had a net margin of 25.73% and a return on equity of 15.71%. The company had revenue of $693.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $673.02 million. On average, equities research analysts forecast that East West Bancorp, Inc. will post 8.85 earnings per share for the current year.

East West Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.60 per share. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.84%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 2nd. East West Bancorp's dividend payout ratio is currently 28.64%.

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.