Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. Sells 122,622 Shares of East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC)

Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. lowered its position in East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC) by 15.1% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 689,338 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 122,622 shares during the quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd.’s holdings in East West Bancorp were worth $66,011,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of East West Bancorp by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,882,803 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $652,223,000 after purchasing an additional 136,528 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of 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. increased its position in shares of 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 increased its holdings in East West Bancorp by 4.9% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,608,132 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $216,438,000 after buying an additional 122,738 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC increased its holdings in East West Bancorp by 7.3% during the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,804,288 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $149,287,000 after buying an additional 123,376 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.53% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on EWBC shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on East West Bancorp from $96.00 to $128.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of East West Bancorp from $125.00 to $120.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on East West Bancorp from $105.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. DA Davidson cut their price target on East West Bancorp from $120.00 to $118.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Stephens lowered East West Bancorp from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $110.38.

East West Bancorp Stock Down 0.0 %

Shares of EWBC opened at $84.35 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.13, a P/E/G ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.28. East West Bancorp, Inc. has a 12-month low of $68.78 and a 12-month high of $113.95. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $97.21 and a 200-day moving average price of $94.81.

East West Bancorp Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were given a dividend of $0.60 per share. This is an increase from East West Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.85%. East West Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 28.81%.

Insider Transactions at East West Bancorp

In other news, Director Jack C. Liu sold 725 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $104.50, for a total transaction of $75,762.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 15,832 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,654,444. This represents a 4.38 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Dominic Ng sold 20,181 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 owns 988,133 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $88,941,851.33. This represents a 2.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders 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 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.