Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. Purchases 1,865 Shares of East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC)

Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. boosted its position in shares of East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC) by 23.4% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 9,835 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,865 shares during the quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc.’s holdings in East West Bancorp were worth $813,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in EWBC. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new stake in East West Bancorp in the third quarter worth $25,000. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. bought a new stake in East West Bancorp during the 2nd quarter valued at about $30,000. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its position in 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 valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 283 shares during the period. American Capital Advisory LLC bought a new position in East West Bancorp in the 2nd quarter worth about $31,000. Finally, Signaturefd LLC increased its position in shares of East West Bancorp by 490.1% during the second quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 537 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 446 shares during the period. 89.53% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Barclays boosted their price target on East West Bancorp from $108.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Citigroup increased their price target on East West Bancorp from $103.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Wedbush upped their price objective on shares of East West Bancorp from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Stephens raised their target price on shares of East West Bancorp from $91.00 to $104.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of East West Bancorp from $103.00 to $106.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $102.25.

Insider Activity at East West Bancorp

In related news, Director Jack C. Liu sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.50, for a total transaction of $167,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 16,557 shares in the company, valued at $1,382,509.50. The trade was a 10.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Vice Chairman Douglas Paul Krause sold 12,000 shares of East West Bancorp stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the insider now owns 45,403 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,840,413.83. The trade was a 20.90 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 25,969 shares of company stock worth $2,625,276 over the last quarter. Insiders own 1.04% of the company’s stock.

East West Bancorp Stock Down 0.3 %

EWBC stock opened at $103.57 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.36 billion, a PE ratio of 13.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 1.27. East West Bancorp, Inc. has a 52 week low of $60.26 and a 52 week high of $107.68. 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 50 day moving average of $88.75 and a 200 day moving average of $81.10.

East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.09 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.06 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $1.16 billion for 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 company earned $2.02 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that East West Bancorp, Inc. will post 8.34 earnings per share for the current year.

East West Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Monday, November 4th will be issued a dividend of $0.55 per share. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.12%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 4th. East West Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 27.78%.

East West Bancorp 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.