DA Davidson Lifts Earnings Estimates for East West Bancorp

East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC) – Research analysts at DA Davidson increased their FY2025 EPS estimates for East West Bancorp in a note issued to investors on Monday, January 27th. DA Davidson analyst G. Tenner now anticipates that the financial services provider will earn $9.58 per share for the year, up from their prior forecast of $8.60. DA Davidson has a “Buy” rating and a $118.00 price target on the stock. The consensus estimate for East West Bancorp’s current full-year earnings is $8.38 per share.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on EWBC. Stephens cut East West Bancorp from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of East West Bancorp from $93.00 to $101.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Compass Point lifted their price target on shares of East West Bancorp from $110.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. StockNews.com cut shares of East West Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Piper Sandler decreased their target price on shares of East West Bancorp from $100.00 to $97.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $110.38.

East West Bancorp Stock Down 0.9 %

EWBC stock opened at $103.02 on Wednesday. East West Bancorp has a fifty-two week low of $67.27 and a fifty-two week high of $113.95. The company has a market capitalization of $14.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 1.30. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $101.28 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $91.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 0.92.

East West Bancorp Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.60 per share. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.33%. This is an increase from East West Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 3rd. East West Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 28.81%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Jack C. Liu sold 725 shares of East West Bancorp stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $104.50, for a total value of $75,762.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 15,832 shares in the company, valued at $1,654,444. The trade was a 4.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Vice Chairman Douglas Paul Krause sold 12,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 45,403 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,840,413.83. The trade was a 20.90 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 13,194 shares of company stock valued at $1,401,063. Corporate insiders own 1.04% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On East West Bancorp

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Millennium Management LLC increased its position in East West Bancorp by 152.1% during the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 374,213 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $27,404,000 after acquiring an additional 225,799 shares during the last quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP increased its position in shares of East West Bancorp by 39.9% during the 3rd quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 520,656 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $43,079,000 after purchasing an additional 148,530 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of East West Bancorp by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,882,803 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $652,223,000 after purchasing an additional 136,528 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. purchased a new position in shares of East West Bancorp in the fourth quarter worth approximately $12,734,000. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC grew its position in East West Bancorp by 7.3% during the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,804,288 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $149,287,000 after buying an additional 123,376 shares during the period. 89.53% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.