East West Bancorp, Inc. $EWBC Shares Purchased by Barclays PLC

Barclays PLC raised its holdings in East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC) by 284.8% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 413,684 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 306,182 shares during the period. Barclays PLC owned approximately 0.30% of East West Bancorp worth $44,037,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Assetmark Inc. lifted its position in East West Bancorp by 3,842.9% during the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 14,786 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,574,000 after buying an additional 14,411 shares in the last quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund grew its holdings in East West Bancorp by 145.5% in the 3rd quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 163,279 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $17,381,000 after buying an additional 96,760 shares in the last quarter. AlphaQuest LLC increased its stake in shares of East West Bancorp by 156.5% in the 3rd quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 37,905 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,035,000 after acquiring an additional 23,125 shares during the last quarter. Creative Planning increased its stake in shares of East West Bancorp by 21.2% in the 2nd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 24,812 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,505,000 after acquiring an additional 4,344 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC raised its holdings in shares of East West Bancorp by 2,084.8% during the 3rd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 53,221 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,665,000 after acquiring an additional 50,785 shares during the period. 89.53% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on EWBC. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of East West Bancorp from $111.00 to $116.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 26th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of East West Bancorp from $145.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 19th. UBS Group set a $125.00 target price on shares of East West Bancorp in a report on Wednesday, February 4th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on shares of East West Bancorp from $131.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. Finally, Truist Financial set a $121.00 price target on shares of East West Bancorp in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $129.21.

Insider Activity at East West Bancorp

In other news, Director Molly Campbell sold 1,800 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $122.81, for a total transaction of $221,058.00. Following the sale, the director owned 5,756 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $706,894.36. This represents a 23.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO Parker Shi sold 8,844 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $115.03, for a total transaction of $1,017,325.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 14,950 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,719,698.50. The trade was a 37.17% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 119,065 shares of company stock worth $13,857,314 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 1.04% of the company’s stock.

East West Bancorp Stock Up 0.6%

Shares of NASDAQ EWBC opened at $107.00 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The business’s 50 day moving average is $115.38 and its two-hundred day moving average is $109.55. East West Bancorp, Inc. has a 52-week low of $68.27 and a 52-week high of $123.82. The firm has a market cap of $14.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.24, a PEG ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 0.90.

East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.52 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.48 by $0.04. East West Bancorp had a return on equity of 15.72% and a net margin of 28.36%.The business had revenue of $753.79 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $745.04 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.10 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that East West Bancorp, Inc. will post 8.85 EPS for the current year.

East West Bancorp Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 17th. Investors of record on Monday, February 2nd were issued a dividend of $0.80 per share. This is a positive change from East West Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 2nd. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.0%. East West Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 33.61%.

East West Bancorp Company Profile

East West Bancorp, Inc is a bank holding company and the parent of East West Bank, one of the largest independent banks headquartered in Southern California. As a full-service commercial bank, it provides a broad range of financial products and services to business and individual customers, including commercial and residential real estate lending, working capital lines of credit, trade finance, and deposit and treasury management services. The company caters to both large and middle-market businesses, leveraging its expertise to serve clients engaged in cross-border trade and investment between the United States and Greater China.

Founded in Los Angeles in the early 1970s, East West Bank has grown steadily through organic expansion and strategic branch openings.