East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) Upgraded by StockNews.com to “Hold” Rating

StockNews.com upgraded shares of East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research note released on Thursday.

Several other research analysts have also recently issued reports on EWBC. Barclays cut their price target on shares of East West Bancorp from $125.00 to $120.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 24th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of East West Bancorp from $127.00 to $118.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 13th. DA Davidson dropped their target price on shares of East West Bancorp from $120.00 to $118.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 24th. UBS Group began coverage on shares of East West Bancorp in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $112.00 target price for the company. Finally, Piper Sandler dropped their target price on shares of East West Bancorp from $100.00 to $97.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 27th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $111.31.

East West Bancorp Trading Up 0.1 %

NASDAQ EWBC opened at $89.99 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.80, a P/E/G ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.28. East West Bancorp has a 52-week low of $68.78 and a 52-week high of $113.95. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $96.08 and a 200 day moving average price of $95.01. The company has a quick ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46.

East West Bancorp Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 17th. Investors of record on Monday, February 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.60 per share. This is an increase from East West Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.67%. East West Bancorp’s payout ratio is 28.81%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Dominic Ng sold 20,181 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.01, for a total value of $1,816,491.81. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 988,133 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $88,941,851.33. This represents a 2.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Jack C. Liu sold 1,275 shares of the company’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 completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 14,557 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,521,643.21. This represents a 8.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 62,181 shares of company stock valued at $5,625,732 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 1.04% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of East West Bancorp

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in EWBC. GSA Capital Partners LLP acquired a new stake in East West Bancorp during the third quarter valued at approximately $339,000. CIBC Asset Management Inc lifted its stake in East West Bancorp by 5.4% during the third quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 5,011 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $415,000 after purchasing an additional 258 shares during the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC lifted its stake in East West Bancorp by 14.4% during the third quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 26,279 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,174,000 after purchasing an additional 3,303 shares during the last quarter. LMR Partners LLP acquired a new stake in East West Bancorp during the third quarter valued at approximately $339,000. Finally, Pathstone Holdings LLC lifted its stake in East West Bancorp by 4.1% during the third quarter. Pathstone Holdings LLC now owns 20,911 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,730,000 after purchasing an additional 828 shares during the last quarter. 89.53% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

East West Bancorp Company 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.