East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) Stock Rating Reaffirmed by Wedbush

Wedbush reiterated their outperform rating on shares of East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) in a research report report published on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $90.00 price objective on the financial services provider’s stock. Wedbush also issued estimates for East West Bancorp’s Q2 2024 earnings at $1.96 EPS, Q3 2024 earnings at $2.02 EPS, Q4 2024 earnings at $2.00 EPS, FY2024 earnings at $8.05 EPS, Q1 2025 earnings at $2.00 EPS, Q2 2025 earnings at $2.05 EPS, Q3 2025 earnings at $2.17 EPS, Q4 2025 earnings at $2.18 EPS and FY2025 earnings at $8.40 EPS.

EWBC has been the topic of several other research reports. Compass Point upped their target price on East West Bancorp from $83.00 to $88.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. Citigroup upped their price objective on East West Bancorp from $85.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 13th. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on East West Bancorp from $72.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Barclays started coverage on East West Bancorp in a research report on Friday, March 8th. They issued an overweight rating and a $106.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Truist Financial upped their price objective on East West Bancorp from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Monday, April 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, East West Bancorp has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $84.08.

East West Bancorp Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of EWBC stock opened at $75.98 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a current ratio of 0.93 and a quick ratio of 0.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.57 billion, a PE ratio of 9.57, a P/E/G ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 1.39. East West Bancorp has a 1-year low of $41.12 and a 1-year high of $79.54. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $74.84 and its 200 day moving average price is $68.57.

East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.08 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.00 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $644.13 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $636.77 million. East West Bancorp had a return on equity of 17.43% and a net margin of 26.78%. East West Bancorp’s revenue was down 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.32 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that East West Bancorp will post 7.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

East West Bancorp Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 3rd will be issued a $0.55 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 2nd. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.90%. East West Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 27.71%.

Insider Transactions at East West Bancorp

In other news, Director Molly Campbell sold 1,625 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.26, for a total value of $125,547.50. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 10,321 shares in the company, valued at approximately $797,400.46. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, Director Molly Campbell sold 1,625 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.26, for a total value of $125,547.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 10,321 shares in the company, valued at $797,400.46. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Jack C. Liu sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.58, for a total value of $147,160.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 16,739 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,231,655.62. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 1.04% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On East West Bancorp

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its stake in East West Bancorp by 40,757.7% during the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 103,370 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $7,437,000 after purchasing an additional 103,117 shares in the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. grew its stake in East West Bancorp by 5.0% during the 3rd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 31,667 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,669,000 after purchasing an additional 1,501 shares in the last quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky grew its stake in East West Bancorp by 92.7% during the 3rd quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 48,562 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,560,000 after purchasing an additional 23,361 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in East West Bancorp by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,243,818 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $803,502,000 after purchasing an additional 215,281 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Trillium Asset Management LLC grew its stake in East West Bancorp by 12.2% during the 3rd quarter. Trillium Asset Management LLC now owns 279,179 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $14,715,000 after purchasing an additional 30,466 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.53% of the company’s stock.

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.