Tidal Investments LLC Sells 13,690 Shares of East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC)

Tidal Investments LLC decreased its stake in shares of East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC) by 57.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 9,984 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 13,690 shares during the quarter. Tidal Investments LLC’s holdings in East West Bancorp were worth $956,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Barclays PLC lifted its position in shares of East West Bancorp by 12.2% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 145,310 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $12,023,000 after buying an additional 15,829 shares during the last quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. grew its stake in East West Bancorp by 16.2% in the fourth quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. now owns 3,694 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $354,000 after acquiring an additional 516 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of East West Bancorp by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 3,583 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $343,000 after purchasing an additional 132 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV lifted its holdings in shares of East West Bancorp by 787.8% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 35,689 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,418,000 after purchasing an additional 31,669 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in East West Bancorp by 26.7% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 25,656 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,457,000 after acquiring an additional 5,408 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 89.53% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. Wall Street Zen lowered East West Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday. Piper Sandler decreased 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. Morgan Stanley lowered East West Bancorp from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $118.00 to $90.00 in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on East West Bancorp from $120.00 to $100.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on East West Bancorp in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $115.00 target price for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, East West Bancorp presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $107.85.

East West Bancorp Price Performance

Shares of East West Bancorp stock opened at $90.33 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.92. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $85.38 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $94.30. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.90. East West Bancorp, Inc. has a one year low of $68.27 and a one year high of $113.95.

East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.05 by $0.04. East West Bancorp had a return on equity of 15.71% and a net margin of 25.73%. The firm had revenue of $693.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $673.02 million. Analysts forecast that East West Bancorp, Inc. will post 8.85 EPS for the current year.

East West Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 16th. Investors of record on Friday, May 2nd were given a dividend of $0.60 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 2nd. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.66%. East West Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is presently 28.64%.

Insider Activity at East West Bancorp

In other East West Bancorp news, EVP Lisa L. Kim sold 2,100 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $95.04, for a total value of $199,584.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 14,849 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,411,248.96. The trade was a 12.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Dominic Ng sold 19,819 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 in the company, valued at $87,148,260. This trade represents a 2.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 102,281 shares of company stock worth $9,473,478 over the last ninety days. 1.04% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About East West Bancorp

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.