MetLife Investment Management LLC Reduces Position in East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC)

MetLife Investment Management LLC lowered its stake in East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC) by 2.2% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 71,625 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,624 shares during the period. MetLife Investment Management LLC owned 0.05% of East West Bancorp worth $5,926,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its stake in East West Bancorp by 55.5% in the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 99,386 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $7,859,000 after acquiring an additional 35,453 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of East West Bancorp in the first quarter worth about $278,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of East West Bancorp by 106.5% during the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,431 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $178,000 after purchasing an additional 1,254 shares during the period. DNB Asset Management AS boosted its position in East West Bancorp by 1.0% in the second quarter. DNB Asset Management AS now owns 113,164 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $8,284,000 after buying an additional 1,082 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Institutional & Family Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in East West Bancorp by 30.8% in the 2nd quarter. Institutional & Family Asset Management LLC now owns 1,160 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $85,000 after buying an additional 273 shares during the period. 89.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

East West Bancorp Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of EWBC opened at $109.68 on Friday. 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 market cap of $15.20 billion, a PE ratio of 13.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 1.27. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $95.26 and its two-hundred day moving average is $83.67. East West Bancorp, Inc. has a 52-week low of $61.87 and a 52-week high of $113.95.

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 for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.06 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $1.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 EPS. Research analysts forecast that East West Bancorp, Inc. will post 8.38 earnings per share 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. Investors of record on Monday, November 4th were given a $0.55 dividend. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.01%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 4th. East West Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.78%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on EWBC. Truist Financial lifted their price objective 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. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of East West Bancorp from $108.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on East West Bancorp from $97.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of East West Bancorp from $103.00 to $106.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Finally, Wedbush increased their price target 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. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, East West Bancorp currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $102.25.

Insider Buying and Selling at East West Bancorp

In related news, Director Rudolph Estrada sold 469 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.04, for a total transaction of $45,980.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 17,750 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,740,210. This represents a 2.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Vice Chairman Douglas Paul Krause sold 12,000 shares of East West Bancorp stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 45,403 shares in the company, valued at $4,840,413.83. This represents 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 ninety days. Insiders own 1.04% of the company’s stock.

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.