East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC) Short Interest Update

East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC) was the recipient of a large decrease in short interest in the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 4,470,000 shares, a decrease of 10.6% from the October 15th total of 5,000,000 shares. Currently, 3.3% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 736,600 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 6.1 days.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Irene H. Oh sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.50, for a total value of $985,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 117,193 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,543,510.50. The trade was a 7.86 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Vice Chairman Douglas Paul Krause sold 12,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.61, for a total value of $1,279,320.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 45,403 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,840,413.83. This represents a 20.90 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 25,969 shares of company stock worth $2,625,276. Company insiders own 1.04% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of East West Bancorp

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of East West Bancorp by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,882,803 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $652,223,000 after acquiring an additional 136,528 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of East West Bancorp by 1.4% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,314,994 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $439,763,000 after acquiring an additional 75,024 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors purchased a new position in shares of East West Bancorp during the first quarter worth approximately $338,142,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in East West Bancorp by 2.3% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,231,953 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $350,152,000 after buying an additional 96,729 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in East West Bancorp by 4.9% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,608,132 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $216,438,000 after buying an additional 122,738 shares during the period. 89.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

East West Bancorp Stock Performance

Shares of East West Bancorp stock traded up $0.50 on Monday, hitting $103.84. 802,685 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 934,225. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 0.92. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.40 billion, a PE ratio of 13.05, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 1.27. East West Bancorp has a 1 year low of $60.34 and a 1 year high of $107.68. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $89.70 and a 200-day simple moving average of $81.53.

East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.06 by $0.03. East West Bancorp had a return on equity of 16.07% and a net margin of 24.96%. The business had revenue of $1.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $641.80 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.02 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that East West Bancorp will post 8.36 EPS for the current year.

East West Bancorp Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on EWBC. Citigroup boosted 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. Stephens upped their price objective on East West Bancorp from $91.00 to $104.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. DA Davidson upped their price objective on East West Bancorp from $100.00 to $107.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. StockNews.com raised East West Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on East West Bancorp from $97.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, East West Bancorp has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $102.25.

East West Bancorp Company 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.