Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV Purchases 223 Shares of East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC)

Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV lifted its position in shares of East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC) by 3.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,258 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 223 shares during the period. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV’s holdings in East West Bancorp were worth $599,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of East West Bancorp by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,197,068 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,359,511,000 after purchasing an additional 70,503 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of East West Bancorp by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,990,468 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $765,167,000 after purchasing an additional 107,665 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of East West Bancorp by 4.4% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,418,840 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $423,148,000 after purchasing an additional 186,887 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in shares of East West Bancorp by 17.0% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,018,504 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $289,052,000 after purchasing an additional 437,676 shares during the period. Finally, Schroder Investment Management Group increased its stake in shares of East West Bancorp by 6.9% during the fourth quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 2,831,862 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $272,652,000 after purchasing an additional 183,675 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 89.53% of the company’s stock.

East West Bancorp Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of EWBC stock opened at $89.67 on Monday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $84.06 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $94.65. The company has a market cap of $12.41 billion, a PE ratio of 10.76, a P/E/G ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.90. East West Bancorp, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $68.27 and a fifty-two week 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.

East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.09 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.05 by $0.04. East West Bancorp had a return on equity of 15.71% and a net margin of 25.73%. The firm had revenue of $693.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $673.02 million. Equities analysts predict that East West Bancorp, Inc. will post 8.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

East West Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 16th. Investors of record on Friday, May 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.60 per share. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.68%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 2nd. East West Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 28.64%.

Insider Activity at East West Bancorp

In related news, CEO Dominic Ng sold 20,181 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 988,133 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $88,941,851.33. This trade represents a 2.00% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders have sold a total of 60,181 shares of company stock valued at $5,416,694 in the last 90 days. 1.04% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on East West Bancorp from $120.00 to $100.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. StockNews.com lowered East West Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, March 28th. Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on East West Bancorp from $100.00 to $97.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Barclays raised their price objective on East West Bancorp from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered East West Bancorp from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $118.00 to $90.00 in a research note on Monday, April 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, East West Bancorp currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $105.46.

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.