Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership Reduces Holdings in East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC)

Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership reduced its stake in shares of East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC) by 37.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 364,890 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 215,583 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership owned 0.26% of East West Bancorp worth $34,942,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new stake in shares of East West Bancorp during the 3rd quarter worth about $26,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of East West Bancorp by 73.2% during the fourth quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 414 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 175 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its position in East West Bancorp by 119.1% during the fourth quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 563 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $54,000 after acquiring an additional 306 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. grew its stake in East West Bancorp by 83.4% in the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 662 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $63,000 after acquiring an additional 301 shares during the period. Finally, Quarry LP raised its holdings in East West Bancorp by 822.9% in the 3rd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,006 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $83,000 after acquiring an additional 897 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.53% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

EWBC has been the topic of several analyst reports. Stephens cut East West Bancorp from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Barclays lowered their price target on East West Bancorp from $125.00 to $120.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 24th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of East West Bancorp from $127.00 to $118.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. StockNews.com cut shares of East West Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, March 28th. Finally, Piper Sandler dropped their price target on shares of East West Bancorp from $100.00 to $97.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $111.31.

East West Bancorp Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ EWBC opened at $90.75 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.92. East West Bancorp, Inc. has a 1-year low of $68.78 and a 1-year high of $113.95. The company has a market capitalization of $12.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.89, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.28. The business has a 50-day moving average of $94.59 and a 200-day moving average of $95.65.

East West Bancorp Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were given a $0.60 dividend. This is an increase from East West Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.64%. East West Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 28.81%.

Insider Activity

In other East West Bancorp news, Director Jack C. Liu sold 1,275 shares of East West Bancorp stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $104.53, for a total transaction of $133,275.75. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 14,557 shares in the company, valued at $1,521,643.21. The trade was a 8.05 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Dominic Ng sold 20,181 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.01, for a total value of $1,816,491.81. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 988,133 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $88,941,851.33. This trade represents a 2.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 62,181 shares of company stock worth $5,625,732 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 1.04% of the company’s stock.

About East West Bancorp

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.