First Commonwealth Financial Corp PA Grows Stake in East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC)

First Commonwealth Financial Corp PA lifted its stake in shares of East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC) by 3.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 9,828 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 331 shares during the period. First Commonwealth Financial Corp PA’s holdings in East West Bancorp were worth $941,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of EWBC. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new stake in East West Bancorp in the third quarter worth $26,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in East West Bancorp by 73.2% in the 4th quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 414 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 175 shares during the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its stake in East West Bancorp by 119.1% in the 4th quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 563 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $54,000 after acquiring an additional 306 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its holdings in East West Bancorp by 83.4% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 662 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $63,000 after purchasing an additional 301 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its position in East West Bancorp by 46.9% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,093 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $105,000 after purchasing an additional 349 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 89.53% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Jack C. Liu sold 725 shares of East West Bancorp 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 owns 15,832 shares in the company, valued at $1,654,444. This trade represents a 4.38 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Dominic Ng sold 20,181 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.01, for a total transaction of $1,816,491.81. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 988,133 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $88,941,851.33. The trade was a 2.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 62,181 shares of company stock valued at $5,625,732 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 1.04% of the company’s stock.

East West Bancorp Stock Performance

East West Bancorp stock opened at $75.90 on Thursday. East West Bancorp, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $68.27 and a fifty-two 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 stock has a market cap of $10.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.09. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $87.82 and its 200-day moving average price is $94.85.

East West Bancorp Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were given a dividend of $0.60 per share. This is an increase from East West Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.16%. East West Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 28.81%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently commented on the stock. DA Davidson dropped their price target on shares of East West Bancorp from $120.00 to $118.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Morgan Stanley lowered 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 report on Monday, April 7th. Barclays decreased their price objective on East West Bancorp from $120.00 to $105.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on 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, Piper Sandler decreased their price target on East West Bancorp from $100.00 to $97.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $106.46.

East West Bancorp 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.