East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC) Shares Bought by Barclays PLC

Barclays PLC raised its holdings in shares of East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC - Free Report) by 26.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 183,617 shares of the financial services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 38,307 shares during the quarter. Barclays PLC owned approximately 0.13% of East West Bancorp worth $17,584,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new stake in shares of East West Bancorp during the third quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in East West Bancorp by 73.2% in the 4th quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 414 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 175 shares in the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of East West Bancorp by 119.1% during the 4th quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 563 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $54,000 after purchasing an additional 306 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. grew its holdings in East West Bancorp by 83.4% during the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 662 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $63,000 after buying an additional 301 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of East West Bancorp in the fourth quarter valued at $100,000. 89.53% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have commented on EWBC shares. DA Davidson lowered their price objective on shares of East West Bancorp from $118.00 to $100.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Barclays raised their price target on East West Bancorp from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday. StockNews.com lowered shares of East West Bancorp from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Friday, March 28th. Morgan Stanley lowered East West Bancorp from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and dropped their target price for the company from $118.00 to $90.00 in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Finally, Piper Sandler reduced their price target on East West Bancorp from $100.00 to $97.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $105.46.

East West Bancorp Stock Up 6.8 %

Shares of East West Bancorp stock traded up $5.38 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $84.59. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,189,068 shares, compared to its average volume of 927,766. East West Bancorp, Inc. has a 1-year low of $68.27 and a 1-year high of $113.95. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $86.19 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $94.83. The company has a quick ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46. The company has a market cap of $11.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.15, a P/E/G ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.09.

East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.09 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.05 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $693.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $673.02 million. East West Bancorp had a return on equity of 15.71% and a net margin of 25.73%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that East West Bancorp, Inc. will post 8.85 earnings per share for the current year.

East West Bancorp Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 17th. Investors of record on Monday, February 3rd were given a $0.60 dividend. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.84%. This is an increase from East West Bancorp's previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 3rd. East West Bancorp's dividend payout ratio is presently 28.81%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other East West Bancorp news, CEO Dominic Ng sold 19,819 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.00, for a total transaction of $1,783,710.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 968,314 shares in the company, valued at approximately $87,148,260. This represents a 2.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Jack C. Liu sold 1,275 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $104.53, for a total transaction of $133,275.75. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 14,557 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,521,643.21. This trade represents a 8.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 62,181 shares of company stock worth $5,625,732 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 1.04% of the company's stock.

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.