East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC) Sees Large Decrease in Short Interest

East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC) saw a large decrease in short interest during the month of November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 4,030,000 shares, a decrease of 6.1% from the November 15th total of 4,290,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 809,200 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 5.0 days. Approximately 2.9% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Insider Activity

In related news, Vice Chairman Douglas Paul Krause sold 12,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.61, for a total transaction of $1,279,320.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 45,403 shares in the company, valued at $4,840,413.83. This trade represents a 20.90 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Molly Campbell sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.65, for a total value of $147,975.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 10,639 shares in the company, valued at $1,049,537.35. This trade represents a 12.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 23,969 shares of company stock worth $2,458,276. 1.04% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of East West Bancorp

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new position in East West Bancorp in the third quarter worth $25,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new stake in shares of East West Bancorp during the third quarter worth $26,000. UMB Bank n.a. raised its position 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 acquiring an additional 283 shares during the last quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. bought a new stake in shares of East West Bancorp during the second quarter worth $30,000. Finally, American Capital Advisory LLC bought a new stake in shares of East West Bancorp during the second quarter worth $31,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.53% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on EWBC. Compass Point raised their price target on East West Bancorp from $110.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised 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. Wedbush raised their price target on East West Bancorp from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. UBS Group initiated coverage on East West Bancorp in a report on Tuesday. They set a “neutral” rating and a $112.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on East West Bancorp from $110.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, East West Bancorp has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $109.38.

East West Bancorp Stock Performance

NASDAQ EWBC traded down $2.36 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $99.61. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 768,739 shares, compared to its average volume of 919,511. The company has a quick ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $100.34 and a 200 day moving average price of $86.03. The firm has a market cap of $13.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 1.28. East West Bancorp has a 52 week low of $67.27 and a 52 week high of $113.95.

East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.09 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.06 by $0.03. East West Bancorp had a return on equity of 16.07% and a net margin of 24.96%. The company had revenue of $1.16 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $641.80 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.02 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that East West Bancorp will post 8.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

East West Bancorp Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Monday, November 4th were paid a $0.55 dividend. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.21%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 4th. East West Bancorp’s dividend 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.