East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) Cut to “Sell” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report report published on Wednesday morning.

EWBC has been the subject of several other research reports. DA Davidson reduced their price objective on shares of 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. Wedbush lifted their price target on shares of East West Bancorp from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Piper Sandler lowered their price target on East West Bancorp from $100.00 to $97.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 27th. Barclays reduced their price objective on East West Bancorp from $125.00 to $120.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Stephens lowered East West Bancorp from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, East West Bancorp has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $110.38.

East West Bancorp Trading Down 3.3 %

NASDAQ:EWBC opened at $93.89 on Wednesday. East West Bancorp has a 1 year low of $68.78 and a 1 year high of $113.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 0.91. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $98.83 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $93.54. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.27, a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.30.

East West Bancorp Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.60 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 3rd. This is an increase from East West Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.56%. East West Bancorp’s payout ratio is 28.81%.

Insider Activity at East West Bancorp

In related news, Director Jack C. Liu sold 1,275 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 14,557 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,521,643.21. This represents a 8.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 1.04% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of East West Bancorp

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in EWBC. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System boosted its position in shares of East West Bancorp by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 38,500 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,687,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its holdings in shares of East West Bancorp by 4.5% in the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 2,336 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $224,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Covestor Ltd grew its stake in shares of East West Bancorp by 7.4% during the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,537 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $128,000 after buying an additional 106 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC increased its holdings in shares of East West Bancorp by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 11,777 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,128,000 after buying an additional 128 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lindenwold Advisors INC raised its position in shares of East West Bancorp by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Lindenwold Advisors INC now owns 7,270 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $602,000 after buying an additional 129 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.53% 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.