East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC) Stake Cut by Swiss National Bank

Swiss National Bank lowered its stake in shares of East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC - Free Report) by 10.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 278,800 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 32,200 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank owned about 0.20% of East West Bancorp worth $20,060,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of EWBC. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in East West Bancorp by 1.4% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,243,818 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $803,502,000 after acquiring an additional 215,281 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in East West Bancorp by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 8,416,534 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $443,635,000 after purchasing an additional 306,473 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its stake in shares of East West Bancorp by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,463,757 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $129,865,000 after buying an additional 72,282 shares during the period. Boston Partners grew its stake in shares of East West Bancorp by 36.4% in the 3rd quarter. Boston Partners now owns 1,827,146 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $96,313,000 after buying an additional 487,418 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in shares of East West Bancorp by 19.8% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,174,237 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $61,894,000 after buying an additional 193,850 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.53% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at East West Bancorp

In other news, Director Molly Campbell sold 1,625 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.26, for a total value of $125,547.50. Following the transaction, the director now owns 10,321 shares in the company, valued at approximately $797,400.46. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, Director Molly Campbell sold 1,625 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.26, for a total value of $125,547.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 10,321 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $797,400.46. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Irene H. Oh sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.58, for a total value of $775,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 127,193 shares of the company's stock, valued at $9,867,632.94. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 13,625 shares of company stock valued at $1,048,508 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 1.04% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently weighed in on EWBC. Stephens increased their price target on shares of East West Bancorp from $85.00 to $86.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Compass Point upped their price target on East West Bancorp from $83.00 to $88.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. Truist Financial decreased their price target on East West Bancorp from $90.00 to $86.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Wedbush reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $90.00 price target on shares of East West Bancorp in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on East West Bancorp from $85.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, East West Bancorp presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $84.08.

East West Bancorp Stock Down 0.1 %

EWBC stock traded down $0.11 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $77.20. The company had a trading volume of 707,369 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,028,550. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 0.93. The company has a market capitalization of $10.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.38. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $75.74 and a 200 day simple moving average of $70.28. East West Bancorp, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $42.60 and a fifty-two week high of $79.54.

East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.00 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $644.13 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $636.77 million. East West Bancorp had a return on equity of 17.43% and a net margin of 26.78%. East West Bancorp's revenue for the quarter was down 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.32 EPS. Analysts forecast that East West Bancorp, Inc. will post 7.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

East West Bancorp Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 3rd will be given a $0.55 dividend. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.85%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 2nd. East West Bancorp's dividend payout ratio is currently 27.71%.

East West Bancorp 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.