Wedge Capital Management L L P NC Sells 24,400 Shares of East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC)

Wedge Capital Management L L P NC reduced its stake in shares of East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC - Free Report) by 18.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 109,452 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 24,400 shares during the quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC owned about 0.08% of East West Bancorp worth $7,875,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of EWBC. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in East West Bancorp by 1.4% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,243,818 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $803,502,000 after acquiring an additional 215,281 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its holdings in East West Bancorp by 3.8% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 8,416,534 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $443,635,000 after purchasing an additional 306,473 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its holdings in East West Bancorp by 3.0% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,463,757 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $129,865,000 after purchasing an additional 72,282 shares during the period. Boston Partners raised its holdings in East West Bancorp by 36.4% in the third quarter. Boston Partners now owns 1,827,146 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $96,313,000 after purchasing an additional 487,418 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in East West Bancorp by 19.8% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,174,237 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $61,894,000 after purchasing an additional 193,850 shares during the period. 89.53% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on EWBC shares. Compass Point raised their price objective on shares of East West Bancorp from $83.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on shares of East West Bancorp from $86.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of East West Bancorp from $72.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Stephens raised their price objective on shares of East West Bancorp from $85.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of East West Bancorp from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, April 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, East West Bancorp has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $84.38.

East West Bancorp Stock Performance

NASDAQ EWBC traded up $1.90 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $77.20. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,730,205 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,221,299. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 1.39. East West Bancorp, Inc. has a 12 month low of $41.12 and a 12 month high of $79.54. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $74.58 and a 200 day moving average price of $68.28.

East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.08 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.00 by $0.08. East West Bancorp had a net margin of 29.11% and a return on equity of 18.47%. The company had revenue of $644.13 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $636.77 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.32 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was down 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that East West Bancorp, Inc. will post 7.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

East West Bancorp Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.55 per share. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.85%. East West Bancorp's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.89%.

Insider Transactions at East West Bancorp

In other news, Director Jack C. Liu sold 2,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.58, for a total transaction of $147,160.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 16,739 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,231,655.62. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, Director Jack C. Liu sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.58, for a total value of $147,160.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 16,739 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,231,655.62. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Molly Campbell sold 1,625 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.26, for a total transaction of $125,547.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 10,321 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $797,400.46. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.91% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.