Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. decreased its stake in shares of East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC) by 16.0% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,940 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 370 shares during the period. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in East West Bancorp were worth $100,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. BlackRock Inc. boosted its position in shares of East West Bancorp by 11,449.0% in the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 11,955,936 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $617,046,000 after buying an additional 11,852,412 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of East West Bancorp by 5.0% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 11,840,450 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $611,085,000 after buying an additional 566,257 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of East West Bancorp by 3.4% in the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,094,888 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $314,556,000 after buying an additional 199,996 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners boosted its position in shares of East West Bancorp by 10.1% in the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 5,739,945 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $296,238,000 after buying an additional 526,404 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Macquarie Group Ltd. boosted its position in shares of East West Bancorp by 1.1% in the first quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd. now owns 4,038,781 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $208,441,000 after buying an additional 45,604 shares during the last quarter. 87.68% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Shares of East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC) opened at 57.00 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $57.62 and a 200 day moving average of $54.22. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.81 and a beta of 1.42. East West Bancorp, Inc. has a 12-month low of $33.02 and a 12-month high of $60.42.
East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 20th. The financial services provider reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the Zacks’ consensus estimate of $0.81. East West Bancorp had a net margin of 34.63% and a return on equity of 13.31%. The firm had revenue of $337.49 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $329.32 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.71 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that East West Bancorp, Inc. will post $3.67 earnings per share for the current year.
The company also recently disclosed a dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 1st will be paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 28th. East West Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is currently 22.92%.
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A number of equities analysts have issued reports on EWBC shares. Zacks Investment Research raised shares of East West Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $57.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 20th. Piper Jaffray Companies set a $68.00 price objective on shares of East West Bancorp and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, June 17th. BidaskClub raised shares of East West Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 15th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of East West Bancorp from $57.00 to $59.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 6th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $57.00 price objective on shares of East West Bancorp in a research note on Friday, June 23rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. East West Bancorp has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $62.63.
In other news, Director Jack C. Liu sold 1,123 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.00, for a total value of $66,257.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 23,669 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,396,471. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Dominic Ng sold 26,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.09, for a total transaction of $1,458,340.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 509,857 shares in the company, valued at $28,597,879.13. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 31,713 shares of company stock worth $1,784,596. Insiders own 0.88% of the company’s stock.
East West Bancorp Company Profile
East West Bancorp, Inc is a bank holding company. The Company’s principal business is to serve as a holding company for East West Bank (the Bank) and other banking or banking-related subsidiaries. The Bank is a California state-chartered bank, which operates in the United States and Greater China. The Bank provides a range of personal and commercial banking services to businesses, business executives, professionals, and other individuals.
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