National Bank of Canada FI Acquires New Position in East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC)

National Bank of Canada FI bought a new position in shares of East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm bought 72,245 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $5,978,000. National Bank of Canada FI owned about 0.05% of East West Bancorp as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in EWBC. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG acquired a new position in shares of East West Bancorp in the 3rd quarter valued at about $4,157,000. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC boosted its stake in East West Bancorp by 159.1% in the third quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 29,587 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,448,000 after acquiring an additional 18,166 shares during the period. Quest Partners LLC boosted its stake in East West Bancorp by 830,133.3% in the third quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 24,907 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,061,000 after acquiring an additional 24,904 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new position in shares of East West Bancorp during the second quarter valued at approximately $852,000. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC raised its position in shares of East West Bancorp by 7.3% during the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,804,288 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $149,287,000 after purchasing an additional 123,376 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.53% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently commented on EWBC shares. Stephens downgraded East West Bancorp from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday. Compass Point upped their price target on shares of East West Bancorp from $110.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Truist Financial boosted their target price on shares of East West Bancorp from $93.00 to $101.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of East West Bancorp from $103.00 to $109.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Wedbush boosted their price objective on East West Bancorp from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $109.17.

Insider Transactions at East West Bancorp

In other East West Bancorp news, Director Molly Campbell sold 1,500 shares of East West Bancorp stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.65, for a total transaction of $147,975.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 10,639 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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 available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Irene H. Oh sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.50, for a total transaction of $985,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 117,193 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,543,510.50. This represents a 7.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 1.04% of the company’s stock.

East West Bancorp Trading Down 1.9 %

Shares of EWBC stock opened at $103.11 on Friday. East West Bancorp, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $67.03 and a fifty-two week high of $113.95. The company has a quick ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $99.59 and a 200 day simple moving average of $85.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.02, a P/E/G ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 1.28.

East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.09 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.06 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $1.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $641.80 million. East West Bancorp had a return on equity of 16.07% and a net margin of 24.96%. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.02 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that East West Bancorp, Inc. will post 8.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

East West Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 4th were issued 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 dividend yield of 2.13%. East West Bancorp’s payout ratio is currently 27.78%.

About East West Bancorp

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.