Forum Financial Management LP Raises Position in East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC)

Forum Financial Management LP increased its holdings in East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC) by 5.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,763 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 188 shares during the quarter. Forum Financial Management LP’s holdings in East West Bancorp were worth $360,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of East West Bancorp by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,197,068 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,359,511,000 after acquiring an additional 70,503 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of East West Bancorp by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,990,468 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $765,167,000 after purchasing an additional 107,665 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake 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 acquiring an additional 186,887 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in East West Bancorp by 17.0% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,018,504 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $289,052,000 after acquiring an additional 437,676 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Schroder Investment Management Group boosted its stake in East West Bancorp by 6.9% during the fourth quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 2,831,862 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $272,652,000 after acquiring an additional 183,675 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.53% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other East West Bancorp news, CEO Dominic Ng sold 19,819 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.00, for a total transaction 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Lisa L. Kim sold 2,100 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $95.04, for a total transaction 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. This represents a 12.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 102,281 shares of company stock valued at $9,473,478 over the last three months. Insiders own 1.04% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently commented on EWBC. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of East West Bancorp from $120.00 to $100.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on shares of 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. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of East West Bancorp from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of East West Bancorp in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $115.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Truist Financial initiated coverage on shares of East West Bancorp in a research note on Tuesday, May 13th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $102.00 target price on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $107.85.

East West Bancorp Stock Down 0.7%

EWBC opened at $90.33 on Tuesday. 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 firm has a 50 day moving average price of $85.38 and a 200-day moving average price of $94.22. East West Bancorp, Inc. has a twelve month low of $68.27 and a twelve month high of $113.95. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.84, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.90.

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

East West Bancorp Announces Dividend

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

East West Bancorp Company 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.