Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Raises East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) Price Target to $85.00

East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) had its target price increased by analysts at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $82.00 to $85.00 in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “outperform” rating on the financial services provider’s stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods’ target price suggests a potential upside of 10.95% from the stock’s current price.

Several other research analysts also recently issued reports on the company. Barclays started coverage on East West Bancorp in a report on Friday, March 8th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $106.00 price objective on the stock. Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of East West Bancorp from $72.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of East West Bancorp from $86.00 to $88.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Stephens upped their price objective on shares of East West Bancorp from $85.00 to $86.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of East West Bancorp from $76.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $84.38.

East West Bancorp Price Performance

Shares of EWBC traded up $1.31 on Wednesday, hitting $76.61. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 867,498 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,209,838. The company has a market capitalization of $10.66 billion, a PE ratio of 9.41, a PEG ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 1.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.91. East West Bancorp has a fifty-two week low of $41.12 and a fifty-two week high of $79.54. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $74.58 and a 200 day moving average price of $68.28.

East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.08 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.00 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $644.13 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $636.77 million. East West Bancorp had a return on equity of 18.47% and a net margin of 29.11%. East West Bancorp’s revenue was down 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.32 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that East West Bancorp will post 7.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Molly Campbell sold 1,625 shares of East West Bancorp stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.26, for a total transaction of $125,547.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 10,321 shares in the company, valued at $797,400.46. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, Director Molly Campbell sold 1,625 shares of East West Bancorp stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.26, for a total transaction of $125,547.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 10,321 shares in the company, valued at $797,400.46. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Jack C. Liu sold 2,000 shares of East West Bancorp stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.58, for a total value of $147,160.00. Following the transaction, 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. 0.91% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On East West Bancorp

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its position in East West Bancorp by 40,757.7% during the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 103,370 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $7,437,000 after acquiring an additional 103,117 shares during the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. raised its position in shares of East West Bancorp by 5.0% in the third quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 31,667 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,669,000 after buying an additional 1,501 shares in the last quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky raised its position in shares of East West Bancorp by 92.7% in the third 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 buying an additional 23,361 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of East West Bancorp by 1.4% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,243,818 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $803,502,000 after buying an additional 215,281 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Trillium Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of East West Bancorp by 12.2% in the third quarter. Trillium Asset Management LLC now owns 279,179 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $14,715,000 after buying an additional 30,466 shares in the last quarter. 89.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.