East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC) Shares Purchased by Schroder Investment Management Group

Schroder Investment Management Group increased its holdings in shares of East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC) by 6.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,831,862 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 183,675 shares during the quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group owned about 2.04% of East West Bancorp worth $272,652,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in EWBC. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System grew its stake in shares of East West Bancorp by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 38,500 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,687,000 after buying an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its holdings in East West Bancorp by 4.5% in the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 2,336 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $224,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC grew its stake in East West Bancorp by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 11,777 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,128,000 after purchasing an additional 128 shares in the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System increased its holdings in East West Bancorp by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 40,196 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,849,000 after purchasing an additional 130 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. raised its position in shares of East West Bancorp by 3.8% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 3,583 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $343,000 after purchasing an additional 132 shares in the last quarter. 89.53% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently issued reports on EWBC shares. UBS Group initiated coverage on shares of East West Bancorp in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $112.00 price target for the company. DA Davidson dropped their target price on shares of East West Bancorp from $120.00 to $118.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 24th. StockNews.com cut shares of East West Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday. Compass Point boosted their price objective on East West Bancorp from $110.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Stephens cut East West Bancorp from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $111.31.

East West Bancorp Stock Down 2.0 %

Shares of East West Bancorp stock opened at $89.07 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.92. East West Bancorp, Inc. has a 1-year low of $68.78 and a 1-year high of $113.95. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $95.35 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $95.42. The company has a market capitalization of $12.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.69, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.28.

East West Bancorp Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 17th. Investors of record on Monday, February 3rd were given a $0.60 dividend. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 3rd. This is a positive change from East West Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. East West Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is currently 28.81%.

Insider Buying and Selling at East West Bancorp

In related news, CEO Dominic Ng sold 19,819 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.00, for a total transaction of $1,783,710.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 968,314 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $87,148,260. This trade represents a 2.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Jack C. Liu sold 1,275 shares of East West Bancorp stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $104.53, for a total value of $133,275.75. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 14,557 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,521,643.21. The trade was a 8.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 62,181 shares of company stock valued at $5,625,732. Company insiders own 1.04% of the company’s stock.

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.