Verition Fund Management LLC Has $549,000 Stock Holdings in East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC)

Verition Fund Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC) by 61.2% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 6,635 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,518 shares during the period. Verition Fund Management LLC’s holdings in East West Bancorp were worth $549,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new position in East West Bancorp in the 3rd quarter worth $25,000. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its stake in shares of East West Bancorp by 362.8% during the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 361 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 283 shares during the period. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. bought a new position in East West Bancorp during the second quarter worth $30,000. American Capital Advisory LLC acquired a new position in shares of East West Bancorp in the second quarter valued at $31,000. Finally, Tobam raised its position in shares of East West Bancorp by 131.7% in the third quarter. Tobam now owns 482 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 274 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.53% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other East West Bancorp news, Vice Chairman Douglas Paul Krause sold 12,000 shares of East West Bancorp stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.61, for a total transaction of $1,279,320.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 45,403 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,840,413.83. This trade represents a 20.90 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Rudolph Estrada sold 469 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.04, for a total value of $45,980.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 17,750 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,740,210. This represents a 2.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 23,969 shares of company stock valued at $2,458,276. Corporate insiders own 1.04% of the company’s stock.

East West Bancorp Trading Up 1.5 %

Shares of EWBC stock opened at $105.13 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $14.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.27, a PEG ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 1.28. East West Bancorp, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $67.03 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 0.92. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $99.15 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $85.33.

East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.06 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $1.16 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $641.80 million. East West Bancorp had a net margin of 24.96% and a return on equity of 16.07%. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.02 EPS. Research analysts forecast that East West Bancorp, Inc. will post 8.38 earnings per share for the current year.

East West Bancorp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Monday, November 4th were given a $0.55 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 4th. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.09%. East West Bancorp’s payout ratio is 27.78%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

EWBC has been the topic of a number of research reports. DA Davidson upped their price target on shares of East West Bancorp from $100.00 to $107.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on East West Bancorp from $105.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of East West Bancorp from $103.00 to $109.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Barclays raised their target price on shares of East West Bancorp from $110.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their price objective on shares of East West Bancorp from $93.00 to $101.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $109.17.

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.