Legal & General Group Plc Trims Holdings in East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC)

Legal & General Group Plc cut its holdings in East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC) by 1.8% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 223,896 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 4,026 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc’s holdings in East West Bancorp were worth $21,440,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new position in shares of East West Bancorp in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of East West Bancorp by 73.2% in the 4th 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 period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $54,000 after acquiring an additional 306 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. raised its holdings in East West Bancorp by 83.4% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 662 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $63,000 after purchasing an additional 301 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in East West Bancorp in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $100,000. 89.53% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

EWBC has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on East West Bancorp from $120.00 to $100.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. UBS Group assumed coverage on shares of East West Bancorp in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $112.00 target price on the stock. Piper Sandler cut their price target on shares of East West Bancorp from $100.00 to $97.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 27th. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of East West Bancorp from $120.00 to $105.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, DA Davidson dropped their target price on shares of East West Bancorp from $120.00 to $118.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $106.46.

Insider Transactions at East West Bancorp

In other news, Director Jack C. Liu sold 1,275 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $104.53, for a total transaction of $133,275.75. Following 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Dominic Ng sold 20,181 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.01, for a total transaction of $1,816,491.81. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 62,181 shares of company stock worth $5,625,732 over the last quarter. 1.04% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

East West Bancorp Price Performance

East West Bancorp stock opened at $72.16 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.66, a P/E/G ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.09. East West Bancorp, Inc. has a 12-month low of $68.27 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. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $89.37 and its two-hundred day moving average is $95.16.

East West Bancorp Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.60 per share. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.33%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 3rd. This is a positive change from East West Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. East West Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is currently 28.81%.

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.