Boston Partners Increases Stake in East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC)

Boston Partners boosted its stake in shares of East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC) by 23.1% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 2,383,284 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 447,057 shares during the quarter. Boston Partners’ holdings in East West Bancorp were worth $228,269,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of East West Bancorp by 1.8% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,882,803 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $652,223,000 after buying an additional 136,528 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in East West Bancorp by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,314,994 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $439,763,000 after purchasing an additional 75,024 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in East West Bancorp by 4.4% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,418,840 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $423,148,000 after purchasing an additional 186,887 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in East West Bancorp by 4.9% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,608,132 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $216,438,000 after purchasing an additional 122,738 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC grew its stake in East West Bancorp by 7.3% during the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,804,288 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $149,287,000 after purchasing an additional 123,376 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.53% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have weighed in on EWBC shares. Stephens downgraded East West Bancorp from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. UBS Group started coverage on East West Bancorp in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $112.00 price target on the stock. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on East West Bancorp from $127.00 to $118.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on East West Bancorp from $96.00 to $128.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Compass Point upped their target price on East West Bancorp from $110.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $111.31.

Insider Buying and Selling at East West Bancorp

In other East West Bancorp news, CEO Dominic Ng sold 20,181 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $88,941,851.33. This trade represents a 2.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Jack C. Liu sold 725 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $104.50, for a total value of $75,762.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 15,832 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,654,444. This trade represents a 4.38 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 42,362 shares of company stock valued at $3,842,022. Company insiders own 1.04% of the company’s stock.

East West Bancorp Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of EWBC opened at $88.19 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46. East West Bancorp, Inc. has a 12 month low of $68.78 and a 12 month high of $113.95. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $96.35 and its two-hundred day moving average is $94.95. The firm has a market cap of $12.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.59, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.28.

East West Bancorp Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were issued a $0.60 dividend. This is a positive change from East West Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.72%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 3rd. East West Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 28.81%.

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.