Victory Capital Management Inc. Trims Position in East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC)

Victory Capital Management Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC) by 63.4% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 141,852 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 246,241 shares during the quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. owned approximately 0.10% of East West Bancorp worth $11,737,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in EWBC. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new position in shares of East West Bancorp during the 3rd quarter worth $25,000. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. purchased a new position in shares of East West Bancorp in the 2nd quarter worth $30,000. UMB Bank n.a. raised its position in shares of East West Bancorp by 362.8% in the 3rd 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 period. American Capital Advisory LLC purchased a new position in shares of East West Bancorp in the 2nd quarter worth $31,000. Finally, Signaturefd LLC raised its position in shares of East West Bancorp by 490.1% in the 2nd 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 period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.53% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at East West Bancorp

In other news, Director Jack C. Liu sold 2,000 shares of East West Bancorp stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.50, for a total transaction of $167,000.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 16,557 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,382,509.50. The trade was a 10.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 45,403 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,840,413.83. This trade represents a 20.90 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 25,969 shares of company stock worth $2,625,276 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 1.04% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

EWBC has been the topic of several research reports. Barclays increased their target price on East West Bancorp from $108.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Stephens increased their target price on East West Bancorp from $91.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. DA Davidson increased their target price on East West Bancorp from $100.00 to $107.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Wedbush increased their target price 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. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their target price on East West Bancorp from $87.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $102.25.

East West Bancorp Stock Up 1.2 %

NASDAQ:EWBC opened at $105.50 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $14.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 1.27. East West Bancorp, Inc. has a one year low of $60.34 and a one year high of $107.68. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $90.67 and a 200 day simple moving average of $81.93. 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 (NASDAQ:EWBC) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.09 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $641.80 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.02 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that East West Bancorp, Inc. will post 8.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

East West Bancorp Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 4th were paid a $0.55 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 4th. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.09%. East West Bancorp’s payout ratio is currently 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.