East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC) Short Interest Down 10.6% in October

East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC) was the target of a large drop in short interest in the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 4,470,000 shares, a drop of 10.6% from the October 15th total of 5,000,000 shares. Currently, 3.3% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 736,600 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 6.1 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Wedbush lifted their price target on shares of East West Bancorp from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Stephens upped their price objective on shares of East West Bancorp from $91.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of East West Bancorp from $97.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Truist Financial increased their price target on East West Bancorp from $93.00 to $101.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on East West Bancorp from $108.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, East West Bancorp has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $102.25.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Rudolph Estrada sold 469 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.04, for a total transaction of $45,980.76. Following the transaction, the director now owns 17,750 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,740,210. This trade represents a 2.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Jack C. Liu sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.50, for a total value of $167,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 16,557 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,382,509.50. This trade represents a 10.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 25,969 shares of company stock valued at $2,625,276. 1.04% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of East West Bancorp

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in East West Bancorp in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $3,832,000. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC boosted its holdings in East West Bancorp by 159.1% in the 3rd quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 29,587 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,448,000 after purchasing an additional 18,166 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in East West Bancorp in the second quarter valued at $852,000. M&G Plc purchased a new position in shares of East West Bancorp during the 2nd quarter worth $9,078,000. Finally, Quest Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of East West Bancorp by 830,133.3% during the 3rd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 24,907 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,061,000 after purchasing an additional 24,904 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.53% of the company’s stock.

East West Bancorp Trading Down 0.0 %

NASDAQ:EWBC traded down $0.03 on Tuesday, reaching $103.81. 256,817 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 931,200. The company’s 50 day moving average is $90.18 and its 200-day moving average is $81.74. East West Bancorp has a 1-year low of $60.34 and a 1-year high of $107.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 1.27. 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 (NASDAQ:EWBC) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $1.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $641.80 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.02 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that East West Bancorp will post 8.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

East West Bancorp Dividend Announcement

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

East West Bancorp Company 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.