Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD Sells 440,246 Shares of East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC)

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lowered its position in East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC) by 10.0% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 3,969,231 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 440,246 shares during the quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD’s holdings in East West Bancorp were worth $314,007,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in EWBC. Riverview Trust Co bought a new stake in East West Bancorp in the first quarter worth about $25,000. YHB Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in East West Bancorp in the first quarter worth about $27,000. Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda bought a new stake in East West Bancorp in the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Rise Advisors LLC bought a new stake in East West Bancorp in the first quarter worth about $30,000. Finally, Mather Group LLC. bought a new stake in East West Bancorp in the first quarter worth about $35,000. Institutional investors own 89.53% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Vice Chairman Douglas Paul Krause sold 8,000 shares of East West Bancorp stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.76, for a total transaction of $590,080.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 57,403 shares in the company, valued at $4,234,045.28. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, insider Irene H. Oh sold 10,000 shares of East West Bancorp stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.58, for a total transaction of $775,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 127,193 shares in the company, valued at $9,867,632.94. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Vice Chairman Douglas Paul Krause sold 8,000 shares of East West Bancorp stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.76, for a total transaction of $590,080.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 57,403 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,234,045.28. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.04% of the company’s stock.

East West Bancorp Stock Up 1.1 %

NASDAQ EWBC traded up $0.96 on Friday, hitting $87.97. The stock had a trading volume of 862,609 shares, compared to its average volume of 936,419. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $74.52 and its 200 day moving average price is $74.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.93. East West Bancorp, Inc. has a 52-week low of $49.59 and a 52-week high of $88.51. The stock has a market cap of $12.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 1.32.

East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.97 by $0.10. East West Bancorp had a net margin of 25.40% and a return on equity of 16.64%. The business had revenue of $638.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $631.61 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.20 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that East West Bancorp, Inc. will post 8.15 earnings per share for the current year.

East West Bancorp Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 2nd will be issued a $0.55 dividend. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 2nd. East West Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is currently 27.71%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Truist Financial lifted their price target on shares of East West Bancorp from $80.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. DA Davidson lifted their price target on shares of East West Bancorp from $92.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of East West Bancorp from $82.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. StockNews.com raised shares of East West Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, Stephens lifted their price target on shares of East West Bancorp from $86.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $88.60.

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.