Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC Purchases 483 Shares of East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC)

Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC) by 9.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 5,355 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 483 shares during the quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in East West Bancorp were worth $443,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Meeder Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of East West Bancorp in the 3rd quarter valued at $3,715,000. Pathstone Holdings LLC increased its stake in shares of East West Bancorp by 4.1% in the 3rd quarter. Pathstone Holdings LLC now owns 20,911 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,730,000 after acquiring an additional 828 shares in the last quarter. Lindenwold Advisors INC increased its stake in shares of East West Bancorp by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Lindenwold Advisors INC now owns 7,270 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $602,000 after acquiring an additional 129 shares in the last quarter. LMR Partners LLP bought a new stake in shares of East West Bancorp in the 3rd quarter valued at $339,000. Finally, Quest Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of East West Bancorp by 830,133.3% in the 3rd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 24,907 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,061,000 after acquiring an additional 24,904 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.53% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently issued reports on EWBC. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of East West Bancorp from $108.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of East West Bancorp from $103.00 to $106.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of East West Bancorp from $87.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Wedbush lifted their price target on shares of East West Bancorp from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, DA Davidson lifted their price target on shares of East West Bancorp from $100.00 to $107.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, East West Bancorp currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $102.25.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Jack C. Liu sold 2,000 shares of East West Bancorp stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.50, for a total transaction of $167,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 16,557 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,382,509.50. The trade was a 10.78 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Irene H. Oh sold 10,000 shares of East West Bancorp stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.50, for a total value of $985,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 117,193 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,543,510.50. The trade was a 7.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 25,969 shares of company stock valued at $2,625,276. Insiders own 1.04% of the company’s stock.

East West Bancorp Trading Up 1.2 %

East West Bancorp stock opened at $105.50 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.92. East West Bancorp, Inc. has a one year low of $60.34 and a one year high of $107.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.63 billion, a PE ratio of 13.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 1.27. The business’s fifty day moving average is $90.67 and its 200 day moving average is $81.93.

East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.09 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.06 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $1.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $641.80 million. East West Bancorp had a return on equity of 16.07% and a net margin of 24.96%. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.02 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that East West Bancorp, Inc. will post 8.36 EPS for the current year.

East West Bancorp Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 4th were given a $0.55 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 4th. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.09%. East West Bancorp’s payout ratio is 27.78%.

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.