East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC) Shares Bought by Vanguard Group Inc.

Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC) by 0.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 14,197,068 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 70,503 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned 0.10% of East West Bancorp worth $1,359,511,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of East West Bancorp by 1.8% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,882,803 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $652,223,000 after purchasing an additional 136,528 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of East West Bancorp by 1.4% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,314,994 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $439,763,000 after buying an additional 75,024 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of East West Bancorp by 4.4% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,418,840 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $423,148,000 after buying an additional 186,887 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of East West Bancorp by 4.9% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,608,132 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $216,438,000 after buying an additional 122,738 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Boston Partners boosted its position in East West Bancorp by 23.1% during the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 2,383,284 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $228,269,000 after acquiring an additional 447,057 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.53% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have commented on EWBC shares. StockNews.com downgraded shares of East West Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday. UBS Group started coverage on East West Bancorp in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $112.00 price target for the company. 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. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on East West Bancorp from $105.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, Stephens lowered East West Bancorp from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $111.31.

East West Bancorp Price Performance

Shares of EWBC opened at $90.87 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $95.58 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $95.24. The stock has a market cap of $12.58 billion, a PE ratio of 10.91, a P/E/G ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.28. East West Bancorp, Inc. 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 current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.92.

East West Bancorp Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were given a $0.60 dividend. This is a positive change from East West Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.64%. East West Bancorp’s payout ratio is presently 28.81%.

Insider Buying and Selling at East West Bancorp

In other news, CEO Dominic Ng sold 19,819 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.00, for a total value of $1,783,710.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 968,314 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $87,148,260. This trade represents a 2.01 % 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. Also, Director Jack C. Liu sold 725 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $104.50, for a total transaction of $75,762.50. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 15,832 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,654,444. The trade was a 4.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 62,181 shares of company stock valued at $5,625,732 over the last quarter. 1.04% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.