Palouse Capital Management Inc. Has $1.89 Million Stock Holdings in East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC)

Palouse Capital Management Inc. lessened its stake in shares of East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC) by 4.0% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 26,326 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,096 shares during the quarter. Palouse Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in East West Bancorp were worth $1,894,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in East West Bancorp by 1.4% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,243,818 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $803,502,000 after acquiring an additional 215,281 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. increased its position in East West Bancorp by 1.0% during the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 13,149,984 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $729,824,000 after acquiring an additional 128,474 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its holdings in East West Bancorp by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 8,416,534 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $443,635,000 after buying an additional 306,473 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its holdings in East West Bancorp by 15.0% in the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,793,739 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $321,553,000 after buying an additional 756,930 shares during the period. Finally, T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in East West Bancorp by 28.6% in the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,997,099 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $197,509,000 after buying an additional 667,316 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.53% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

EWBC has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of East West Bancorp from $85.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of East West Bancorp from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 1st. Barclays initiated coverage on shares of East West Bancorp in a report on Friday, March 8th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $106.00 target price on the stock. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of East West Bancorp from $76.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of East West Bancorp from $72.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $83.15.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Molly Campbell sold 1,625 shares of East West Bancorp stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.26, for a total transaction of $125,547.50. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 10,321 shares in the company, valued at approximately $797,400.46. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, Director Jack C. Liu sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.58, for a total value of $147,160.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 16,739 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,231,655.62. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Molly Campbell sold 1,625 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.26, for a total transaction of $125,547.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 10,321 shares in the company, valued at approximately $797,400.46. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.91% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

East West Bancorp Trading Up 1.5 %

NASDAQ:EWBC traded up $1.08 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $72.88. 1,719,132 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,218,754. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $74.34 and a 200-day simple moving average of $67.55. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02. East West Bancorp, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $41.12 and a fifty-two week high of $79.54. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.91, a PEG ratio of 0.91 and a beta of 1.39.

East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, January 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.02 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.89 by $0.13. East West Bancorp had a net margin of 29.11% and a return on equity of 18.47%. The business had revenue of $654.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $641.91 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.37 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that East West Bancorp, Inc. will post 7.86 earnings per share for the current year.

East West Bancorp Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 15th. Investors of record on Friday, February 2nd were given a dividend of $0.55 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 1st. This is an increase from East West Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.02%. East West Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 26.89%.

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.