The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Has $49.43 Million Position in East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC)

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lessened its stake in shares of East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC) by 0.9% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 597,390 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 5,130 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company owned 0.43% of East West Bancorp worth $49,428,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new position in East West Bancorp during the third quarter worth $25,000. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. acquired a new position in East West Bancorp during the second quarter worth $30,000. UMB Bank n.a. raised its holdings in East West Bancorp by 362.8% during the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 361 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 283 shares during the last quarter. American Capital Advisory LLC acquired a new position in East West Bancorp during the second quarter worth $31,000. Finally, Signaturefd LLC raised its holdings in East West Bancorp by 490.1% during the second quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 537 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 446 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.53% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Vice Chairman Douglas Paul Krause sold 12,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.61, for a total value of $1,279,320.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 45,403 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,840,413.83. This represents a 20.90 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Rudolph Estrada sold 469 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.04, for a total transaction of $45,980.76. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 17,750 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,740,210. The trade was a 2.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 23,969 shares of company stock worth $2,458,276 over the last quarter. 1.04% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

EWBC has been the topic of several research reports. Truist Financial upped their price objective on shares of East West Bancorp from $93.00 to $101.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of East West Bancorp from $97.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Barclays increased their target price on shares of East West Bancorp from $108.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of East West Bancorp from $87.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of East West Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $102.25.

East West Bancorp Price Performance

EWBC opened at $110.05 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $15.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.90, a PEG ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.27. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $94.72 and a 200 day moving average of $83.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 0.92. East West Bancorp, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $60.34 and a fifty-two week high of $113.95.

East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.09 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.06 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $1.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $641.80 million. East West Bancorp had a net margin of 24.96% and a return on equity of 16.07%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.02 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that East West Bancorp, Inc. will post 8.37 EPS for the current year.

East West Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 4th were given a dividend of $0.55 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 4th. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.00%. East West Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is presently 27.78%.

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.