Asset One Wealth Management LLC Takes Position in East West Bancorp, Inc. $EWBC

Asset One Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm acquired 29,557 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $3,388,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lifted its position in shares of East West Bancorp by 84,090.3% in the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 5,311,566 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $596,967,000 after acquiring an additional 5,305,257 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in East West Bancorp by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,981,065 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $559,822,000 after buying an additional 106,998 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its position in East West Bancorp by 7.1% during the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 4,620,772 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $519,329,000 after buying an additional 306,916 shares during the period. Boston Partners lifted its position in East West Bancorp by 19.6% during the third quarter. Boston Partners now owns 3,874,737 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $412,464,000 after buying an additional 633,649 shares during the period. Finally, Schroder Investment Management Group lifted its position in East West Bancorp by 9.4% during the fourth quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 3,713,679 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $423,619,000 after buying an additional 318,303 shares during the period. 89.53% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on EWBC shares. DA Davidson increased their target price on East West Bancorp from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $133.00 target price on shares of East West Bancorp in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. UBS Group increased their target price on East West Bancorp from $125.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on East West Bancorp from $141.00 to $128.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 31st. Finally, Truist Financial increased their target price on East West Bancorp from $120.00 to $128.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, East West Bancorp has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $133.69.

East West Bancorp Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:EWBC opened at $127.26 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.43 billion, a PE ratio of 12.71, a P/E/G ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.88. The business has a 50-day moving average of $122.55 and a two-hundred day moving average of $116.16. East West Bancorp, Inc. has a 12 month low of $91.36 and a 12 month high of $136.00.

East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 21st. The financial services provider reported $2.57 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.46 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $773.75 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $767.80 million. East West Bancorp had a return on equity of 16.00% and a net margin of 29.59%.The firm’s revenue was up 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.08 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that East West Bancorp, Inc. will post 10.6 earnings per share for the current year.

East West Bancorp Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 4th were paid a dividend of $0.80 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 4th. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.5%. East West Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is currently 31.97%.

Insider Transactions at East West Bancorp

In other East West Bancorp news, CEO Dominic Ng sold 30,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $123.49, for a total transaction of $3,704,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 707,930 shares in the company, valued at $87,422,275.70. This represents a 4.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Vice Chairman Douglas Paul Krause sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $123.50, for a total value of $1,235,000.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 46,974 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,801,289. This represents a 17.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 54,311 shares of company stock valued at $6,784,711. Insiders own 0.94% of the company’s stock.

About East West Bancorp

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.