Sanctuary Advisors LLC Decreases Holdings in East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC)

Sanctuary Advisors LLC trimmed its stake in East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC) by 17.1% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 22,893 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 4,707 shares during the period. Sanctuary Advisors LLC’s holdings in East West Bancorp were worth $1,894,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new stake in shares of East West Bancorp in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. bought a new stake in shares of East West Bancorp in the second quarter valued at $30,000. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its position in shares of East West Bancorp by 362.8% during the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 361 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 283 shares during the last quarter. American Capital Advisory LLC purchased a new position in shares of East West Bancorp during the 2nd quarter valued at $31,000. Finally, Signaturefd LLC grew its stake in shares of East West Bancorp by 490.1% during the 2nd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 537 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 446 shares during the period. 89.53% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on EWBC. Stephens cut East West Bancorp from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of East West Bancorp from $96.00 to $128.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of East West Bancorp from $105.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Wedbush boosted their target price on shares of East West Bancorp from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Citigroup raised their price target on East West Bancorp from $103.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $109.38.

East West Bancorp Price Performance

NASDAQ:EWBC opened at $95.10 on Thursday. East West Bancorp, Inc. has a 52-week low of $67.27 and a 52-week high of $113.95. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $100.88 and a 200 day moving average of $86.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 0.92. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.01, a P/E/G ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 1.28.

East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.06 by $0.03. East West Bancorp had a return on equity of 16.07% and a net margin of 24.96%. The firm had revenue of $1.16 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $641.80 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.02 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that East West Bancorp, Inc. will post 8.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

East West Bancorp Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 4th were paid a $0.55 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 4th. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.31%. East West Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is presently 27.78%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Molly Campbell sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.65, for a total transaction of $147,975.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 10,639 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,049,537.35. This trade represents a 12.36 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Vice Chairman Douglas Paul Krause sold 12,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.61, for a total value of $1,279,320.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 45,403 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,840,413.83. The trade was a 20.90 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 23,969 shares of company stock valued at $2,458,276 in the last quarter. Corporate 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.