Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. Trims Stock Position in East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC)

Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. cut its stake in East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC) by 16.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,820 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 346 shares during the quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc.’s holdings in East West Bancorp were worth $174,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of EWBC. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in East West Bancorp by 108.5% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 54,851 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,282,000 after acquiring an additional 28,549 shares in the last quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG purchased a new stake in East West Bancorp during the 3rd quarter valued at $4,157,000. Quest Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of East West Bancorp by 830,133.3% during the 3rd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 24,907 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,061,000 after buying an additional 24,904 shares during the period. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC boosted its stake in shares of East West Bancorp by 159.1% in the 3rd quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 29,587 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,448,000 after buying an additional 18,166 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC grew its holdings in shares of East West Bancorp by 7.3% in the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,804,288 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $149,287,000 after acquiring an additional 123,376 shares during the period. 89.53% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other East West Bancorp news, Director Rudolph Estrada sold 469 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.04, for a total transaction of $45,980.76. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 17,750 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,740,210. The trade was a 2.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Vice Chairman Douglas Paul Krause sold 12,000 shares of the company’s 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 sale, the insider now owns 45,403 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,840,413.83. This trade represents a 20.90 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 23,969 shares of company stock worth $2,458,276. Corporate insiders own 1.04% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have issued reports on EWBC. Stephens cut East West Bancorp from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. UBS Group assumed coverage on shares of East West Bancorp in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $112.00 price objective on the stock. Compass Point upped their target price on shares of East West Bancorp from $110.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Piper Sandler increased their price target on shares of East West Bancorp from $87.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of East West Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $109.77.

East West Bancorp Price Performance

Shares of East West Bancorp stock opened at $100.53 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $13.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.69, a PEG ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 1.30. 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’s 50-day simple moving average is $101.56 and its 200-day simple moving average is $89.72. East West Bancorp, Inc. has a 52 week low of $67.27 and a 52 week high of $113.95.

East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.06 by $0.03. East West Bancorp had a return on equity of 16.07% and a net margin of 24.96%. The company had revenue of $1.16 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $641.80 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.02 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that East West Bancorp, Inc. will post 8.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

East West Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 4th were issued a $0.55 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 4th. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.19%. East West Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.