East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC) Short Interest Update

East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC) saw a large decrease in short interest in November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 4,030,000 shares, a decrease of 6.1% from the November 15th total of 4,290,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 809,200 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 5.0 days. Approximately 2.9% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently commented on EWBC. Barclays lifted their target price on East West Bancorp from $110.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Wedbush boosted their target price on shares of East West Bancorp from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. StockNews.com raised shares of East West Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of East West Bancorp from $105.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, Stephens lowered East West Bancorp from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $109.38.

Insider Buying and Selling at East West Bancorp

In other news, 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 value of $45,980.76. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 17,750 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,740,210. The trade was a 2.57 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Molly Campbell sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.65, for a total transaction of $147,975.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 10,639 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,049,537.35. This trade represents a 12.36 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 23,969 shares of company stock valued at $2,458,276 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 1.04% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On East West Bancorp

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG acquired a new stake in shares of East West Bancorp in the third quarter valued at $4,157,000. Quest Partners LLC lifted its holdings in East West Bancorp by 830,133.3% in the 3rd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 24,907 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,061,000 after acquiring an additional 24,904 shares during the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC boosted its position in shares of East West Bancorp by 159.1% during the 3rd quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 29,587 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,448,000 after purchasing an additional 18,166 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new position in shares of East West Bancorp in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $852,000. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC raised its holdings in shares of East West Bancorp by 7.3% in the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,804,288 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $149,287,000 after purchasing an additional 123,376 shares in the last quarter. 89.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

East West Bancorp Trading Down 1.8 %

NASDAQ:EWBC opened at $100.18 on Wednesday. East West Bancorp has a 1 year low of $67.27 and a 1 year high of $113.95. The business has a fifty day moving average of $100.34 and a 200-day moving average of $86.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 0.92. The stock has a market cap of $13.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.67, a PEG ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 1.28.

East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.09 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.06 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $1.16 billion for 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 last year, the company earned $2.02 EPS. Equities analysts predict that East West Bancorp will post 8.39 earnings per share for the current year.

East West Bancorp Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 4th were paid a dividend of $0.55 per share. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.20%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 4th. 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.