Voya Investment Management LLC Acquires 16,991 Shares of East West Bancorp, Inc. $EWBC

Voya Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC) by 30.1% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 73,468 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 16,991 shares during the period. Voya Investment Management LLC owned 0.05% of East West Bancorp worth $6,594,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Picton Mahoney Asset Management increased its stake in shares of East West Bancorp by 1,971.4% in the first quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management now owns 290 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 276 shares during the period. WPG Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in East West Bancorp during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $28,000. SVB Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in East West Bancorp during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Grove Bank & Trust raised its holdings in East West Bancorp by 448.9% during the 1st quarter. Grove Bank & Trust now owns 516 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 422 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its position in shares of East West Bancorp by 89.7% in the 1st quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 518 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 245 shares during the period. 89.53% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on EWBC. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of East West Bancorp from $110.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Piper Sandler increased their price target on East West Bancorp from $100.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, September 8th. Wall Street Zen downgraded East West Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Sunday, August 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on East West Bancorp from $110.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Finally, Citigroup lifted their target price on East West Bancorp from $124.00 to $134.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 8th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $116.64.

Insider Transactions at East West Bancorp

In related news, insider Irene H. Oh sold 15,051 shares of East West Bancorp stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.73, for a total value of $1,606,393.23. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 113,353 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,098,165.69. This trade represents a 11.72% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Dominic Ng sold 40,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.38, for a total transaction of $4,135,200.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 888,314 shares in the company, valued at approximately $91,833,901.32. This trade represents a 4.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 70,240 shares of company stock worth $7,379,678 over the last 90 days. 1.04% of the stock is owned by insiders.

East West Bancorp Stock Up 0.7%

East West Bancorp stock opened at $107.53 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 0.97. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $104.60 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $94.91. East West Bancorp, Inc. has a 1-year low of $68.27 and a 1-year high of $113.95. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43.

East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.23 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $705.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $702.04 million. East West Bancorp had a return on equity of 15.09% and a net margin of 26.06%.East West Bancorp’s quarterly revenue was up 10.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.07 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that East West Bancorp, Inc. will post 8.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

East West Bancorp Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 4th were paid a $0.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 4th. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.2%. East West Bancorp’s payout ratio is presently 28.04%.

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.