XTX Topco Ltd Acquires New Stake in East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC)

XTX Topco Ltd bought a new position in shares of East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 7,502 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $718,000.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in East West Bancorp by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,197,068 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,359,511,000 after purchasing an additional 70,503 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its position in shares of East West Bancorp by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,990,468 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $765,167,000 after acquiring an additional 107,665 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of East West Bancorp by 4.4% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,418,840 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $423,148,000 after purchasing an additional 186,887 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of East West Bancorp by 17.0% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,018,504 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $289,052,000 after purchasing an additional 437,676 shares during the period. Finally, Schroder Investment Management Group lifted its stake in East West Bancorp by 6.9% in the 4th quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 2,831,862 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $272,652,000 after purchasing an additional 183,675 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.53% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Jack C. Liu sold 1,275 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 14,557 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,521,643.21. This represents a 8.05 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Dominic Ng sold 19,819 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.00, for a total value of $1,783,710.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 968,314 shares of the company's stock, valued at $87,148,260. The trade was a 2.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 62,181 shares of company stock worth $5,625,732 over the last three months. Insiders own 1.04% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on EWBC shares. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on East West Bancorp from $120.00 to $100.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. StockNews.com downgraded East West Bancorp from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Friday, March 28th. Morgan Stanley downgraded East West Bancorp from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $118.00 to $90.00 in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Piper Sandler lowered their price target on East West Bancorp from $100.00 to $97.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on East West Bancorp from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $105.46.

East West Bancorp Price Performance

Shares of EWBC stock traded up $6.94 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $86.15. The company had a trading volume of 1,552,525 shares, compared to its average volume of 921,707. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $11.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.09. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $86.19 and its 200 day moving average price is $94.83. East West Bancorp, Inc. has a one year low of $68.27 and a one year high of $113.95.

East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.05 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $693.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $673.02 million. East West Bancorp had a return on equity of 15.71% and a net margin of 25.73%. Equities analysts expect that East West Bancorp, Inc. will post 8.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

East West Bancorp Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.60 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 3rd. This is a boost from East West Bancorp's previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.79%. East West Bancorp's dividend payout ratio is presently 28.81%.

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.