East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC) Shares Bought by Fmr LLC

FMR LLC grew its holdings in East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC - Free Report) by 1.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,990,468 shares of the financial services provider's stock after buying an additional 107,665 shares during the period. FMR LLC owned 5.76% of East West Bancorp worth $765,167,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of EWBC. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. raised its holdings in East West Bancorp by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 10,171 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $974,000 after acquiring an additional 336 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its holdings in shares of East West Bancorp by 108.5% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 54,851 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $5,282,000 after purchasing an additional 28,549 shares during the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank increased its holdings in shares of East West Bancorp by 1,667.7% in the fourth quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 670,156 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $64,174,000 after purchasing an additional 632,245 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its position in East West Bancorp by 18.2% during the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 100,320 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $9,699,000 after buying an additional 15,475 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in East West Bancorp by 10.0% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 755,555 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $72,352,000 after buying an additional 68,528 shares during the last quarter. 89.53% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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Insider Buying and Selling at East West Bancorp

In other 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 value of $1,783,710.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 968,314 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $87,148,260. This represents a 2.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Jack C. Liu sold 725 shares of East West Bancorp stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $104.50, for a total transaction of $75,762.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 15,832 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,654,444. This represents a 4.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 62,181 shares of company stock worth $5,625,732 over the last three months. Insiders own 1.04% of the company's stock.

East West Bancorp Stock Up 1.4 %

NASDAQ EWBC traded up $0.99 during trading on Friday, reaching $72.16. 1,362,350 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 912,129. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $89.37 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $95.16. The stock has a market cap of $9.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.09. East West Bancorp, Inc. has a 1 year low of $68.27 and a 1 year 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 0.91.

East West Bancorp Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 17th. Investors of record on Monday, February 3rd were issued a $0.60 dividend. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.33%. 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 28.81%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

EWBC has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on East West Bancorp from $120.00 to $100.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of East West Bancorp from $120.00 to $105.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Piper Sandler dropped their price target on shares of East West Bancorp from $100.00 to $97.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Morgan Stanley lowered East West Bancorp from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $118.00 to $90.00 in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Finally, DA Davidson reduced their price target on shares of East West Bancorp from $120.00 to $118.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $106.46.

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.