GSA Capital Partners LLP Takes $339,000 Position in East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC)

GSA Capital Partners LLP acquired a new stake in shares of East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 4,093 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $339,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of East West Bancorp during the 2nd quarter valued at about $3,832,000. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC increased its holdings in East West Bancorp by 159.1% during 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 buying an additional 18,166 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new position in East West Bancorp in the second quarter worth approximately $852,000. M&G Plc bought a new position in East West Bancorp in the second quarter worth approximately $9,078,000. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its stake in shares of East West Bancorp by 55.5% during 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. Institutional investors own 89.53% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at East West Bancorp

In other news, insider Irene H. Oh sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.50, for a total value of $985,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 117,193 shares in the company, valued at $11,543,510.50. This represents a 7.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Rudolph Estrada sold 469 shares of the business’s 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 transaction, 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 23,969 shares of company stock valued at $2,458,276. Company insiders own 1.04% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently weighed in on EWBC. Compass Point lifted their target price on shares of East West Bancorp from $93.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Citigroup upped their price objective on East West Bancorp from $103.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. StockNews.com upgraded East West Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Truist Financial boosted their price target on East West Bancorp from $93.00 to $101.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Stephens increased their price objective on shares of East West Bancorp from $91.00 to $104.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $102.25.

East West Bancorp Stock Up 3.0 %

East West Bancorp stock opened at $110.08 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $91.80 and its 200 day moving average price is $82.27. 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 firm has a market cap of $15.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 1.27. East West Bancorp, Inc. has a 52 week low of $60.34 and a 52 week high of $110.31.

East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) last posted its 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 firm 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 period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.02 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that East West Bancorp, Inc. will post 8.37 earnings per share for the current year.

East West Bancorp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 4th were issued a $0.55 dividend. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.00%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 4th. 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.