Erste Asset Management GmbH Makes New $2.17 Million Investment in East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC)

Erste Asset Management GmbH acquired a new stake in shares of East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC - Free Report) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 26,583 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $2,167,000.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new stake in shares of East West Bancorp during the 3rd quarter worth $25,000. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. bought a new stake in shares of East West Bancorp during the 2nd quarter worth $30,000. UMB Bank n.a. raised 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 purchasing an additional 283 shares during the period. American Capital Advisory LLC bought a new stake in shares of East West Bancorp during the 2nd quarter worth $31,000. Finally, Signaturefd LLC raised its stake in shares of East West Bancorp by 490.1% during the 2nd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 537 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 446 shares during the period. 89.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at East West Bancorp

In related news, Director Rudolph Estrada sold 469 shares of East West Bancorp stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.04, for a total transaction 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 $1,740,210. This trade represents a 2.57 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Vice Chairman Douglas Paul Krause sold 12,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 45,403 shares in the company, valued at $4,840,413.83. This trade represents a 20.90 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 23,969 shares of company stock worth $2,458,276 over the last quarter. 1.04% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Truist Financial lifted their target price on East West Bancorp from $93.00 to $101.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Compass Point increased their price target on East West Bancorp from $93.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Stephens increased their price target on East West Bancorp from $91.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. StockNews.com upgraded East West Bancorp from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, Wedbush increased their price target on East West Bancorp from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, East West Bancorp currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $107.08.

East West Bancorp Price Performance

NASDAQ EWBC traded down $0.45 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $106.56. 717,820 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 923,565. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $96.82 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $84.29. East West Bancorp, Inc. has a 1 year low of $66.39 and a 1 year high of $113.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.92. The company has a market cap of $14.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 1.28.

East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC - Get Free Report) 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. East West Bancorp had a net margin of 24.96% and a return on equity of 16.07%. The business had revenue of $1.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $641.80 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.02 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that East West Bancorp, Inc. will post 8.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

East West Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 4th were paid a dividend of $0.55 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 4th. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.06%. East West Bancorp's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.78%.

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.