East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC) Short Interest Up 33.5% in March

by · The Cerbat Gem

East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC – Get Free Report) was the target of a large growth in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 4,340,000 shares, a growth of 33.5% from the March 15th total of 3,250,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 1,190,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.6 days. Currently, 3.2% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on EWBC shares. Piper Sandler decreased their price target on shares of East West Bancorp from $100.00 to $97.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 27th. DA Davidson reduced their price target on East West Bancorp from $120.00 to $118.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Morgan Stanley downgraded East West Bancorp from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $118.00 to $90.00 in a research report on Monday, April 7th. StockNews.com downgraded East West Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, March 28th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on East West Bancorp from $120.00 to $100.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $106.46.

Check Out Our Latest Stock Analysis on EWBC

East West Bancorp Trading Up 2.0 %

Shares of EWBC stock traded up $1.53 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $77.43. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,412,011 shares, compared to its average volume of 916,166. The company has a quick ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.72 billion, a PE ratio of 9.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.09. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $86.98 and its 200-day simple moving average is $94.89. East West Bancorp has a 12-month low of $68.27 and a 12-month high of $113.95.

East West Bancorp Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.60 per share. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.10%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 3rd. This is a boost from East West Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. East West Bancorp’s payout ratio is currently 28.81%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Dominic Ng sold 19,819 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.00, for a total value of $1,783,710.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 968,314 shares in the company, valued at $87,148,260. The trade was a 2.01 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Jack C. Liu sold 1,275 shares of East West Bancorp stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $104.53, for a total transaction of $133,275.75. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 14,557 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,521,643.21. The trade was a 8.05 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 62,181 shares of company stock valued at $5,625,732 in the last ninety days. 1.04% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On East West Bancorp

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of East West Bancorp by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,197,068 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,359,511,000 after acquiring an additional 70,503 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its stake in East West Bancorp by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,990,468 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $765,167,000 after buying an additional 107,665 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of East West Bancorp by 4.4% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,418,840 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $423,148,000 after acquiring an additional 186,887 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of East West Bancorp by 17.0% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,018,504 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $289,052,000 after acquiring an additional 437,676 shares during the period. Finally, Schroder Investment Management Group boosted its stake in East West Bancorp by 6.9% during the 4th quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 2,831,862 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $272,652,000 after purchasing an additional 183,675 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.53% of the company’s stock.

About East West Bancorp

(Get Free Report)

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.

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