Pallas Capital Advisors LLC Purchases New Position in East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC)

Pallas Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 6,523 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $586,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of East West Bancorp in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of East West Bancorp by 73.2% in the fourth quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 414 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 175 shares in the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its position in shares of East West Bancorp by 89.7% in the first quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 518 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 245 shares in the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of East West Bancorp by 119.1% in the fourth quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 563 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $54,000 after buying an additional 306 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of East West Bancorp in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $100,000. 89.53% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at East West Bancorp

In other East West Bancorp news, EVP Lisa L. Kim sold 2,100 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $95.04, for a total value of $199,584.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 14,849 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,411,248.96. This represents a 12.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Dominic Ng sold 40,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.43, for a total transaction of $3,857,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 928,314 shares in the company, valued at $89,517,319.02. The trade was a 4.13% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 61,919 shares of company stock valued at $5,840,494 over the last 90 days. 1.04% of the stock is owned by insiders.

East West Bancorp Stock Performance

NASDAQ EWBC opened at $93.80 on Thursday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $86.41 and its two-hundred day moving average is $93.31. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 0.91. East West Bancorp, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $68.27 and a fifty-two week high of $113.95.

East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.09 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.05 by $0.04. East West Bancorp had a return on equity of 15.71% and a net margin of 25.73%. The company had revenue of $693.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $673.02 million. On average, research analysts anticipate that East West Bancorp, Inc. will post 8.85 earnings per share for the current year.

East West Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 16th. Investors of record on Friday, May 2nd were issued a $0.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 2nd. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.56%. East West Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 28.64%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. Truist Financial assumed coverage on East West Bancorp in a research report on Tuesday, May 13th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $102.00 price objective for the company. Morgan Stanley cut East West Bancorp from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $118.00 to $90.00 in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on East West Bancorp in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. They set a “buy” rating and a $115.00 price target for the company. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on East West Bancorp from $120.00 to $100.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut East West Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $107.85.

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.