Capital Group Private Client Services Inc. Decreases Stock Position in East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC)

Capital Group Private Client Services Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC) by 1.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 47,456 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 581 shares during the quarter. Capital Group Private Client Services Inc.’s holdings in East West Bancorp were worth $4,544,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in EWBC. Stifel Financial Corp raised its position in shares of East West Bancorp by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 21,737 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,799,000 after purchasing an additional 550 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC increased its position in East West Bancorp by 12.2% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 145,310 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $12,023,000 after buying an additional 15,829 shares in the last quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of East West Bancorp in the third quarter worth $5,513,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new stake in shares of East West Bancorp in the third quarter valued at $26,000. Finally, Tidal Investments LLC boosted its stake in shares of East West Bancorp by 7.1% during the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 23,674 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,959,000 after acquiring an additional 1,566 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.53% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

EWBC has been the topic of several analyst reports. Morgan Stanley cut shares of East West Bancorp from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $118.00 to $90.00 in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of East West Bancorp from $120.00 to $105.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. DA Davidson cut their price target on East West Bancorp from $120.00 to $118.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 24th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on East West Bancorp from $120.00 to $100.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, 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. 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, East West Bancorp currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $106.46.

East West Bancorp Stock Up 2.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ EWBC opened at $77.43 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $86.98 and a 200 day moving average price of $94.79. The company has a market cap of $10.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.30, a P/E/G ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.09. East West Bancorp, Inc. has a 12-month low of $68.27 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.

East West Bancorp Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were issued a $0.60 dividend. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.10%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 3rd. This is a boost from East West Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. East West Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is currently 28.81%.

Insider Activity

In other East West Bancorp news, CEO Dominic Ng sold 20,181 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.01, for a total transaction of $1,816,491.81. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 988,133 shares in the company, valued at $88,941,851.33. This trade represents a 2.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Jack C. Liu sold 1,275 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $104.53, for a total transaction of $133,275.75. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 14,557 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,521,643.21. The trade was a 8.05 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 62,181 shares of company stock worth $5,625,732 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 1.04% of the company’s stock.

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.