Vanguard Group Inc. Has $945.98 Million Stake in East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC)

Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC – Get Rating) by 0.5% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 14,089,614 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 72,205 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 10.00% of East West Bancorp worth $945,976,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Boston Partners grew its position in East West Bancorp by 6.9% in the third quarter. Boston Partners now owns 5,920,365 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $397,635,000 after purchasing an additional 383,311 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its position in East West Bancorp by 25.0% in the second quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,774,618 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $374,195,000 after purchasing an additional 1,155,315 shares in the last quarter. CI Investments Inc. grew its position in East West Bancorp by 20.5% in the second quarter. CI Investments Inc. now owns 3,646,609 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $236,300,000 after purchasing an additional 620,505 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its position in East West Bancorp by 1.2% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,097,679 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $140,838,000 after purchasing an additional 24,086 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in East West Bancorp by 2.9% in the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,611,426 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $108,197,000 after purchasing an additional 45,223 shares in the last quarter. 88.68% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Jack C. Liu sold 2,000 shares of East West Bancorp stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.00, for a total transaction of $154,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 17,136 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,319,472. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other East West Bancorp news, CFO Irene H. Oh acquired 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 13th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $49.51 per share, for a total transaction of $495,100.00. Following the purchase, the chief financial officer now directly owns 124,925 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,185,036.75. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Jack C. Liu sold 2,000 shares of East West Bancorp stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.00, for a total transaction of $154,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 17,136 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,319,472. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.80% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

East West Bancorp Stock Performance

Shares of EWBC opened at $51.82 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $72.83 and a 200-day moving average of $70.52. East West Bancorp, Inc. has a one year low of $33.86 and a one year high of $85.32. The company has a market cap of $7.31 billion, a PE ratio of 6.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.69 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.90.

East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC – Get Rating) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 26th. The financial services provider reported $2.37 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.22 by $0.15. The business had revenue of $826.14 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $654.24 million. East West Bancorp had a net margin of 43.06% and a return on equity of 19.66%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.52 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that East West Bancorp, Inc. will post 9.11 earnings per share for the current year.

East West Bancorp Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 21st. Investors of record on Monday, February 6th were issued a dividend of $0.48 per share. This is an increase from East West Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 3rd. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.71%. East West Bancorp’s payout ratio is presently 24.24%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on EWBC shares. Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of East West Bancorp from $77.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 27th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of East West Bancorp from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 27th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of East West Bancorp from $90.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 15th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $82.00.

East West Bancorp Company Profile

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East West Bancorp, Inc is a bank holding company, which engages in the provision of financial services. It operates through the following business segments: Consumer and Business Banking, Commercial Banking, and Other. The Consumer and Business Banking segment provides financial service products and services to consumer and commercial customers through the company’s branch network in the U.S.