Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC Invests $357,000 in East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC)

Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 4,872 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $357,000.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Riverview Trust Co acquired a new position in East West Bancorp during the 1st quarter valued at about $25,000. YHB Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of East West Bancorp during the first quarter worth approximately $27,000. Rise Advisors LLC acquired a new position in East West Bancorp in the first quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda bought a new position in East West Bancorp in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Finally, Mather Group LLC. acquired a new stake in East West Bancorp during the 1st quarter worth $35,000. Institutional investors own 89.53% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on EWBC shares. Wedbush increased their price target on East West Bancorp from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. DA Davidson raised their target price on East West Bancorp from $92.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on East West Bancorp from $95.00 to $103.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of East West Bancorp from $85.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of East West Bancorp from $80.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, East West Bancorp currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $89.53.

East West Bancorp Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ:EWBC traded up $0.62 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $80.86. 423,008 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 993,097. The stock has a market cap of $11.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.18, a P/E/G ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 1.32. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. East West Bancorp, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $49.59 and a fifty-two week high of $89.75. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $77.25 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $75.37.

East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.07 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.97 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $638.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $631.61 million. East West Bancorp had a net margin of 25.40% and a return on equity of 16.64%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.20 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that East West Bancorp, Inc. will post 8.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

East West Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 16th. Investors of record on Friday, August 2nd were issued a dividend of $0.55 per share. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.72%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 2nd. East West Bancorp’s payout ratio is currently 27.71%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Vice Chairman Douglas Paul Krause sold 8,000 shares of East West Bancorp stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.76, for a total transaction of $590,080.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 57,403 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,234,045.28. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, Vice Chairman Douglas Paul Krause sold 8,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.76, for a total value of $590,080.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 57,403 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,234,045.28. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Gary Teo sold 3,450 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.73, for a total transaction of $302,668.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 15,875 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,392,713.75. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 19,346 shares of company stock valued at $1,531,240 over the last 90 days. 1.04% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.