East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC) Shares Bought by Xponance Inc.

Xponance Inc. raised its stake in East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC) by 6.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 15,839 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 894 shares during the quarter. Xponance Inc.’s holdings in East West Bancorp were worth $1,517,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of East West Bancorp by 1.8% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,882,803 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $652,223,000 after acquiring an additional 136,528 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of East West Bancorp by 1.4% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,314,994 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $439,763,000 after acquiring an additional 75,024 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of East West Bancorp by 4.4% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,418,840 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $423,148,000 after acquiring an additional 186,887 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of East West Bancorp by 4.9% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,608,132 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $216,438,000 after acquiring an additional 122,738 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Boston Partners raised its holdings in shares of East West Bancorp by 23.1% in the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 2,383,284 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $228,269,000 after acquiring an additional 447,057 shares during the last quarter. 89.53% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

East West Bancorp Price Performance

EWBC stock opened at $89.99 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $96.08 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $95.01. East West Bancorp, Inc. has a 12-month low of $68.78 and a 12-month high of $113.95. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46. The company has a market cap of $12.46 billion, a PE ratio of 10.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.28.

East West Bancorp Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were given a dividend of $0.60 per share. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.67%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 3rd. This is an increase from East West Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. East West Bancorp’s payout ratio is 28.81%.

Insider Buying and Selling at East West Bancorp

In other news, Director Jack C. Liu sold 1,275 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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. This represents a 8.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Dominic Ng sold 19,819 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.00, for a total value of $1,783,710.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 968,314 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $87,148,260. The trade was a 2.01 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 62,181 shares of company stock valued at $5,625,732. Company insiders own 1.04% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

EWBC has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on East West Bancorp from $105.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Stephens lowered East West Bancorp from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. StockNews.com upgraded East West Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on East West Bancorp from $100.00 to $97.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Finally, DA Davidson dropped their target price on East West Bancorp from $120.00 to $118.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, East West Bancorp has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $111.31.

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.