Principal Financial Group Inc. Cuts Stock Position in East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC)

Principal Financial Group Inc. cut its holdings in shares of East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC) by 5.8% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,820,744 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 111,401 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in East West Bancorp were worth $150,650,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new stake in shares of East West Bancorp during the third quarter worth approximately $25,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new stake in shares of East West Bancorp during the third quarter worth approximately $26,000. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of East West Bancorp during the second quarter worth approximately $30,000. UMB Bank n.a. increased its stake in shares of East West Bancorp by 362.8% during the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 361 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 283 shares during the period. Finally, American Capital Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in shares of East West Bancorp during the second quarter worth approximately $31,000. 89.53% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of East West Bancorp from $105.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Barclays upped their target price on shares of East West Bancorp from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of East West Bancorp from $103.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. StockNews.com raised East West Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, Truist Financial upped their price target on East West Bancorp from $93.00 to $101.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, East West Bancorp currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $109.77.

East West Bancorp Price Performance

EWBC stock opened at $95.91 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46. The company has a market capitalization of $13.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.11, a PEG ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 1.28. East West Bancorp, Inc. has a twelve month low of $67.27 and a twelve month high of $113.95. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $101.23 and a 200-day simple moving average of $86.49.

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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.06 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $1.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $641.80 million. East West Bancorp had a return on equity of 16.07% and a net margin of 24.96%. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.02 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that East West Bancorp, Inc. will post 8.39 EPS for the current year.

East West Bancorp Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 4th were issued a $0.55 dividend. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 4th. East West Bancorp’s payout ratio is currently 27.78%.

Insider Transactions at East West Bancorp

In other East West Bancorp news, Director Molly Campbell sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.65, for a total transaction of $147,975.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 10,639 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,049,537.35. The trade was a 12.36 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Rudolph Estrada sold 469 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.04, for a total value of $45,980.76. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 17,750 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,740,210. This represents a 2.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 23,969 shares of company stock worth $2,458,276 over the last 90 days. 1.04% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.