Quest Partners LLC Grows Holdings in East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC)

Quest Partners LLC increased its position in East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC) by 830,133.3% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 24,907 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 24,904 shares during the period. Quest Partners LLC’s holdings in East West Bancorp were worth $2,061,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of EWBC. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new position in shares of East West Bancorp during the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. purchased a new position in East West Bancorp during the second quarter worth approximately $30,000. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its holdings in shares of East West Bancorp by 362.8% in the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 361 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 283 shares during the last quarter. American Capital Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in shares of East West Bancorp during the 2nd quarter valued at $31,000. Finally, Signaturefd LLC increased its holdings in shares of East West Bancorp by 490.1% during the 2nd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 537 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 446 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.53% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

EWBC has been the topic of a number of research reports. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on East West Bancorp from $103.00 to $106.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on East West Bancorp from $97.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Compass Point boosted their price objective on East West Bancorp from $93.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. StockNews.com upgraded East West Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on East West Bancorp from $103.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $102.25.

Insider Activity

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

East West Bancorp Stock Up 0.5 %

EWBC stock opened at $103.84 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $14.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.05, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 1.27. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $89.70 and a 200-day simple moving average of $81.53. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46. East West Bancorp, Inc. has a twelve month low of $60.34 and a twelve month high of $107.68.

East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.09 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.06 by $0.03. East West Bancorp had a net margin of 24.96% and a return on equity of 16.07%. The company had revenue of $1.16 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $641.80 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.02 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that East West Bancorp, Inc. will post 8.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

East West Bancorp Announces Dividend

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

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.