Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. Cuts Stock Position in East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC)

Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. cut its holdings in shares of East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC) by 76.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 102,631 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 331,923 shares during the quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. owned approximately 0.07% of East West Bancorp worth $9,828,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. increased its holdings in East West Bancorp by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 10,171 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $974,000 after buying an additional 336 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in shares of East West Bancorp by 108.5% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 54,851 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,282,000 after purchasing an additional 28,549 shares during the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its holdings in shares of East West Bancorp by 1,667.7% in the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 670,156 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $64,174,000 after purchasing an additional 632,245 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in East West Bancorp by 18.2% in the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 100,320 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $9,699,000 after purchasing an additional 15,475 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in East West Bancorp by 10.0% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 755,555 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $72,352,000 after purchasing an additional 68,528 shares during the period. 89.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

EWBC has been the subject of several research reports. Morgan Stanley downgraded East West Bancorp from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $118.00 to $90.00 in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Piper Sandler reduced their target price on shares of East West Bancorp from $100.00 to $97.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 27th. StockNews.com cut shares of East West Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, March 28th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of East West Bancorp from $120.00 to $100.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on East West Bancorp from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $105.46.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Jack C. Liu sold 725 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $104.50, for a total transaction of $75,762.50. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 15,832 shares in the company, valued at $1,654,444. This trade represents a 4.38 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Dominic Ng sold 20,181 shares of the business’s 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 988,133 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $88,941,851.33. The trade was a 2.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 62,181 shares of company stock valued at $5,625,732. Corporate insiders own 1.04% of the company’s stock.

East West Bancorp Stock Down 0.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ:EWBC opened at $85.26 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $85.38 and a 200 day moving average of $94.80. East West Bancorp, Inc. has a 52-week low of $68.27 and a 52-week high of $113.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 0.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.80 billion, a PE ratio of 10.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.09.

East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.09 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.05 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $693.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $673.02 million. East West Bancorp had a return on equity of 15.71% and a net margin of 25.73%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that East West Bancorp, Inc. will post 8.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

East West Bancorp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 2nd will be paid a $0.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 2nd. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.81%. East West Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 28.81%.

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.