Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. Acquires 5,155 Shares of East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC)

Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. grew its holdings in East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC) by 4.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 126,315 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,155 shares during the quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc.’s holdings in East West Bancorp were worth $12,096,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of East West Bancorp by 1.8% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,882,803 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $652,223,000 after acquiring an additional 136,528 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its position in 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 purchasing an additional 75,024 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in 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. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in East West Bancorp by 4.9% during 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 purchasing an additional 122,738 shares during the period. Finally, Boston Partners lifted 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 purchasing an additional 447,057 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 89.53% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of East West Bancorp from $127.00 to $118.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. StockNews.com raised shares of East West Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday. DA Davidson cut their price objective on shares of East West Bancorp from $120.00 to $118.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of East West Bancorp from $96.00 to $128.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Compass Point upped their price objective on shares of East West Bancorp from $110.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $111.31.

East West Bancorp Stock Down 0.5 %

EWBC stock opened at $89.89 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46. East West Bancorp, Inc. has a 12 month low of $68.78 and a 12 month high of $113.95. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $96.15 and a 200-day moving average price of $94.88.

East West Bancorp Increases Dividend

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

Insider Activity

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 stock was sold at an average price of $90.01, for a total value of $1,816,491.81. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 988,133 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $88,941,851.33. This represents a 2.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Jack C. Liu sold 1,275 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $104.53, for a total value of $133,275.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 14,557 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,521,643.21. This represents a 8.05 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 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.