Great Lakes Advisors LLC Lowers Holdings in East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC)

Great Lakes Advisors LLC lowered its position in East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC) by 3.1% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 137,069 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 4,363 shares during the period. Great Lakes Advisors LLC’s holdings in East West Bancorp were worth $13,126,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in EWBC. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new position in East West Bancorp in the third quarter worth approximately $26,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in East West Bancorp by 73.2% in the fourth quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 414 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 175 shares during the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its stake in East West Bancorp by 119.1% in the fourth quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 563 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $54,000 after acquiring an additional 306 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its stake in East West Bancorp by 83.4% in the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 662 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $63,000 after acquiring an additional 301 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Transamerica Financial Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in East West Bancorp in the third quarter worth approximately $79,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.53% of the company’s stock.

East West Bancorp Stock Performance

Shares of East West Bancorp stock opened at $85.43 on Thursday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $97.00 and its 200-day simple moving average is $94.74. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.26, a PEG 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 debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.92.

East West Bancorp Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were issued a $0.60 dividend. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.81%. This is a boost from East West Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 3rd. East West Bancorp’s payout ratio is presently 28.81%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

EWBC has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Stephens downgraded shares of East West Bancorp from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on shares of East West Bancorp from $100.00 to $97.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 27th. DA Davidson cut their price objective on shares of East West Bancorp from $120.00 to $118.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 24th. Barclays cut 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 report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Compass Point raised their price objective on shares of East West Bancorp from $110.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $110.38.

Insider Activity

In other East West Bancorp news, CEO Dominic Ng sold 20,181 shares of the business’s 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 988,133 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $88,941,851.33. The trade was a 2.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Jack C. Liu sold 1,275 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 14,557 shares in the company, valued at $1,521,643.21. This represents a 8.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 42,362 shares of company stock valued at $3,842,022 in the last ninety days. 1.04% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.