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

East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating restated by analysts at Wedbush in a research report issued on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $90.00 target price on the financial services provider’s stock. Wedbush’s price objective suggests a potential upside of 17.86% from the company’s previous close. Wedbush also issued estimates for East West Bancorp’s Q2 2024 earnings at $1.96 EPS, Q3 2024 earnings at $2.02 EPS, FY2024 earnings at $8.05 EPS, Q2 2025 earnings at $2.05 EPS, Q3 2025 earnings at $2.17 EPS and FY2025 earnings at $8.40 EPS.

A number of other brokerages also recently commented on EWBC. Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of East West Bancorp from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 1st. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of East West Bancorp from $85.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 13th. Jefferies Financial Group raised 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. Compass Point raised their price objective on shares of East West Bancorp from $83.00 to $88.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 13th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their price objective 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. 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 company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $84.08.

East West Bancorp Price Performance

Shares of EWBC opened at $76.36 on Wednesday. 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 market capitalization of $10.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 1.39. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $74.76 and a 200-day simple moving average of $68.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 0.91.

East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.08 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.00 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $644.13 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $636.77 million. East West Bancorp had a net margin of 26.78% and a return on equity of 17.66%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.32 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that East West Bancorp will post 7.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at East West Bancorp

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

Institutional Trading of East West Bancorp

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its stake in East West Bancorp by 40,757.7% in the 4th 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 period. Federated Hermes Inc. grew its stake in East West Bancorp by 5.0% in the 3rd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 31,667 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,669,000 after acquiring an additional 1,501 shares during the period. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky grew its stake in East West Bancorp by 92.7% in the 3rd quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 48,562 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,560,000 after acquiring an additional 23,361 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in East West Bancorp by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,243,818 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $803,502,000 after acquiring an additional 215,281 shares during the period. Finally, Trillium Asset Management LLC grew its stake in East West Bancorp by 12.2% in the 3rd quarter. Trillium Asset Management LLC now owns 279,179 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $14,715,000 after acquiring an additional 30,466 shares during the period. 89.53% of the stock is 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.