East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) Rating Lowered to “Sell” at StockNews.com

East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) was downgraded by research analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report issued on Friday.

A number of other research firms also recently commented on EWBC. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on shares of East West Bancorp from $100.00 to $97.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Stephens cut shares of East West Bancorp from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. DA Davidson decreased their price target on East West Bancorp from $120.00 to $118.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on East West Bancorp from $105.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on East West Bancorp from $96.00 to $128.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $111.31.

East West Bancorp Stock Performance

Shares of EWBC opened at $89.07 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $12.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.69, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a quick ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46. The business’s 50 day moving average is $95.35 and its two-hundred day moving average is $95.42. East West Bancorp has a 52-week low of $68.78 and a 52-week high of $113.95.

Insider Activity

In other East West Bancorp news, CEO Dominic Ng sold 20,181 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.01, for a total transaction of $1,816,491.81. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 988,133 shares in the company, valued at approximately $88,941,851.33. The trade was a 2.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Jack C. Liu sold 725 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $104.50, for a total value 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 62,181 shares of company stock valued at $5,625,732. 1.04% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On East West Bancorp

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of East West Bancorp during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $166,590,000. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank increased its position in shares of East West Bancorp by 1,667.7% during the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 670,156 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $64,174,000 after purchasing an additional 632,245 shares during the period. Boston Partners raised its stake in shares of East West Bancorp by 23.1% in the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 2,383,284 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $228,269,000 after buying an additional 447,057 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of East West Bancorp by 17.0% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,018,504 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $289,052,000 after buying an additional 437,676 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in East West Bancorp during the fourth quarter valued at about $32,138,000. Institutional investors own 89.53% of the company’s stock.

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.