DA Davidson Lifts Earnings Estimates for East West Bancorp

East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC) – Research analysts at DA Davidson raised their FY2025 EPS estimates for East West Bancorp in a report issued on Thursday, December 19th. DA Davidson analyst G. Tenner now forecasts that the financial services provider will post earnings of $8.60 per share for the year, up from their previous estimate of $8.55. DA Davidson has a “Buy” rating and a $107.00 price target on the stock. The consensus estimate for East West Bancorp’s current full-year earnings is $8.39 per share.

A number of other brokerages also recently issued reports on EWBC. Stephens downgraded East West Bancorp from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of East West Bancorp from $96.00 to $128.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of East West Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of East West Bancorp from $87.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of East West Bancorp from $103.00 to $106.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average 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 debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 0.92. The firm has a market cap of $13.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.11, a P/E/G ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 1.28. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $101.23 and its 200 day moving average is $86.49. 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 announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.09 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $1.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $641.80 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.02 EPS.

East West Bancorp Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling at East West Bancorp

In related news, Vice Chairman Douglas Paul Krause sold 12,000 shares of East West Bancorp stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.61, for a total transaction of $1,279,320.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 45,403 shares in the company, valued at $4,840,413.83. This trade represents a 20.90 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Rudolph Estrada sold 469 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.04, for a total transaction of $45,980.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 17,750 shares in the company, 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 have sold a total of 23,969 shares of company stock worth $2,458,276 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 1.04% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of EWBC. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new position in shares of East West Bancorp during the third quarter valued at $25,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new position in East West Bancorp in the third quarter worth approximately $26,000. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. bought a new stake in East West Bancorp during the 2nd quarter valued at $30,000. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its position in East West Bancorp by 362.8% during the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 361 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 283 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American Capital Advisory LLC purchased a new position in shares of East West Bancorp in the 2nd quarter valued at $31,000. Institutional investors 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.