Crumly & Associates Inc. Decreases Stake in East West Bancorp, Inc. $EWBC

Crumly & Associates Inc. reduced its position in East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC) by 6.0% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 8,672 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 557 shares during the period. Crumly & Associates Inc.’s holdings in East West Bancorp were worth $876,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Picton Mahoney Asset Management boosted its position in East West Bancorp by 1,971.4% in the 1st quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management now owns 290 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 276 shares during the last quarter. WPG Advisers LLC purchased a new position in East West Bancorp in the 1st quarter valued at about $28,000. SVB Wealth LLC purchased a new position in East West Bancorp in the 1st quarter valued at about $29,000. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its position in East West Bancorp by 89.7% in the 1st quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 518 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 245 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Grove Bank & Trust boosted its position in East West Bancorp by 448.9% in the 1st quarter. Grove Bank & Trust now owns 516 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 422 shares during the last quarter. 89.53% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at East West Bancorp

In related news, Director Jack C. Liu sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.00, for a total transaction of $105,000.00. Following the sale, the director owned 14,974 shares in the company, valued at $1,572,270. This represents a 6.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Irene H. Oh sold 7,639 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $109.40, for a total transaction of $835,706.60. Following the sale, the insider owned 105,714 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,565,111.60. This trade represents a 6.74% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 70,240 shares of company stock worth $7,379,678 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 1.04% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of East West Bancorp from $100.00 to $104.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, September 8th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed 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. Barclays upped their target price on shares of East West Bancorp from $110.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of East West Bancorp from $102.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of East West Bancorp from $100.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $116.64.

East West Bancorp Price Performance

EWBC opened at $109.38 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $15.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 0.97. East West Bancorp, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $68.27 and a fifty-two week high of $113.95. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $104.62 and its 200 day moving average price is $94.63. The company has a quick ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43.

East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.28 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.23 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $705.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $702.04 million. East West Bancorp had a net margin of 26.06% and a return on equity of 15.09%. East West Bancorp’s quarterly revenue was up 10.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.07 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that East West Bancorp, Inc. will post 8.85 earnings per share for the current year.

East West Bancorp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Investors of record on Monday, August 4th were paid a dividend of $0.60 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 4th. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.2%. East West Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is 28.04%.

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.