Basswood Capital Management L.L.C. Has $1.46 Million Stake in East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC)

Basswood Capital Management L.L.C. lowered its holdings in East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC) by 95.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 15,249 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 300,776 shares during the quarter. Basswood Capital Management L.L.C.’s holdings in East West Bancorp were worth $1,460,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new position in shares of East West Bancorp during the third quarter valued at about $26,000. Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in East West Bancorp during the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in East West Bancorp by 73.2% during the 4th quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 414 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 175 shares in the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of East West Bancorp by 119.1% in the fourth quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 563 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $54,000 after purchasing an additional 306 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. lifted its holdings in shares of East West Bancorp by 83.4% in the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 662 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $63,000 after purchasing an additional 301 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.53% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. StockNews.com lowered East West Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, March 28th. Piper Sandler dropped their price target on shares of East West Bancorp from $100.00 to $97.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Barclays upped 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 report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of East West Bancorp from $120.00 to $100.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered East West Bancorp from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $118.00 to $90.00 in a report on Monday, April 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $105.46.

Insider Activity at East West Bancorp

In other East West Bancorp news, CEO Dominic Ng sold 20,181 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.01, for a total value of $1,816,491.81. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 988,133 shares in the company, valued at $88,941,851.33. This represents a 2.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In the last three months, insiders have sold 60,181 shares of company stock worth $5,416,694. 1.04% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

East West Bancorp Trading Up 2.6 %

Shares of East West Bancorp stock opened at $89.11 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.70, a P/E/G ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.90. East West Bancorp, Inc. has a 52-week low of $68.27 and a 52-week 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. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $84.54 and its 200 day simple moving average is $94.79.

East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.09 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 company had revenue of $693.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $673.02 million. As a group, research analysts anticipate that East West Bancorp, Inc. will post 8.85 EPS for the current year.

East West Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 2nd will be given a $0.60 dividend. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.69%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 2nd. East West Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.