Wedge Capital Management L L P NC Sells 24,400 Shares of East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC)

Wedge Capital Management L L P NC lowered its holdings in shares of East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC) by 18.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 109,452 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 24,400 shares during the quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC owned 0.08% of East West Bancorp worth $7,875,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of EWBC. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its holdings in shares of East West Bancorp by 40,757.7% in the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 103,370 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $7,437,000 after acquiring an additional 103,117 shares during the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of East West Bancorp by 5.0% in the 3rd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 31,667 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,669,000 after acquiring an additional 1,501 shares during the last quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky lifted its holdings in shares of East West Bancorp by 92.7% in the 3rd quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 48,562 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,560,000 after acquiring an additional 23,361 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of East West Bancorp by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,243,818 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $803,502,000 after acquiring an additional 215,281 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Trillium Asset Management LLC increased its stake in East West Bancorp by 12.2% in the 3rd quarter. Trillium Asset Management LLC now owns 279,179 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $14,715,000 after buying an additional 30,466 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 89.53% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

EWBC has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Barclays initiated coverage on shares of East West Bancorp in a research note on Friday, March 8th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $106.00 price target on the stock. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $86.00 price target on shares of East West Bancorp in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Compass Point raised their price target on shares of East West Bancorp from $83.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of East West Bancorp from $76.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price target on shares of East West Bancorp from $85.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, East West Bancorp currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $83.42.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Molly Campbell sold 1,625 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.26, for a total transaction of $125,547.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 10,321 shares in the company, valued at approximately $797,400.46. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other East West Bancorp news, Director Molly Campbell sold 1,625 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.26, for a total transaction of $125,547.50. Following the sale, the director now owns 10,321 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $797,400.46. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Jack C. Liu sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.58, for a total transaction of $147,160.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 16,739 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,231,655.62. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.91% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

East West Bancorp Trading Up 1.1 %

NASDAQ EWBC opened at $75.30 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02. The firm has a market cap of $10.48 billion, a PE ratio of 9.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 1.39. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $74.58 and a 200 day moving average price of $68.28. East West Bancorp, Inc. has a 52 week low of $41.12 and a 52 week high of $79.54.

East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.02 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.89 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $654.70 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $641.91 million. East West Bancorp had a net margin of 29.11% and a return on equity of 18.47%. East West Bancorp’s revenue was down 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.37 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that East West Bancorp, Inc. will post 7.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

East West Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 17th. Investors of record on Friday, May 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.55 per share. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.92%. East West Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.89%.

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.