Erste Asset Management GmbH Has $2.75 Million Stock Holdings in East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC)

Erste Asset Management GmbH lifted its holdings in shares of East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC) by 6.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 28,429 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,846 shares during the quarter. Erste Asset Management GmbH’s holdings in East West Bancorp were worth $2,749,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System boosted its holdings in shares of East West Bancorp by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 38,500 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,687,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the period. Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its position in East West Bancorp by 4.5% during the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 2,336 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $224,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Lindenwold Advisors INC boosted its holdings in East West Bancorp by 1.8% during the third 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 during the period. Arizona State Retirement System grew its position in shares of East West Bancorp by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 40,196 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,849,000 after purchasing an additional 130 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. increased its stake in shares of East West Bancorp by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 3,583 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $343,000 after purchasing an additional 132 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 89.53% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have issued reports on EWBC. Stephens lowered East West Bancorp from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of East West Bancorp from $125.00 to $120.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Compass Point upped their target price on shares of East West Bancorp from $110.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on shares of East West Bancorp from $96.00 to $128.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of East West Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $111.31.

East West Bancorp Stock Up 3.5 %

EWBC opened at $87.97 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $12.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.56, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.28. 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 firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $96.66 and its 200-day simple moving average is $94.71. East West Bancorp, Inc. has a twelve month low of $68.78 and a twelve month high of $113.95.

East West Bancorp Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.60 per share. This is a positive change from East West Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.73%. East West Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 28.81%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Dominic Ng sold 20,181 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.01, for a total transaction of $1,816,491.81. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 988,133 shares in the company, valued at approximately $88,941,851.33. This 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 link. Also, Director Jack C. Liu sold 1,275 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $104.53, for a total transaction of $133,275.75. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 14,557 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,521,643.21. This represents a 8.05 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 42,362 shares of company stock worth $3,842,022. 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.