Q1 EPS Forecast for East West Bancorp Lowered by Analyst

East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC) – DA Davidson cut their Q1 2025 earnings estimates for shares of East West Bancorp in a research note issued on Wednesday, April 2nd. DA Davidson analyst G. Tenner now expects that the financial services provider will post earnings of $1.98 per share for the quarter, down from their previous forecast of $2.01. DA Davidson currently has a “Buy” rating and a $118.00 target price on the stock. The consensus estimate for East West Bancorp’s current full-year earnings is $8.85 per share. DA Davidson also issued estimates for East West Bancorp’s FY2026 earnings at $9.51 EPS.

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on EWBC. StockNews.com cut East West Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, March 28th. Piper Sandler reduced their target price on East West Bancorp from $100.00 to $97.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Compass Point increased their target price on East West Bancorp from $110.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Stephens lowered shares of East West Bancorp from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of East West Bancorp from $125.00 to $120.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, East West Bancorp has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $111.31.

East West Bancorp Stock Down 5.0 %

EWBC opened at $74.04 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $93.50 and a two-hundred day moving average of $95.48. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.89, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.28. East West Bancorp has a fifty-two week low of $68.78 and a fifty-two week high of $113.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 0.91.

East West Bancorp Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 17th. Investors of record on Monday, February 3rd were issued a $0.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 3rd. This is a boost from East West Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.24%. East West Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is currently 28.81%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Dominic Ng sold 19,819 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.00, for a total transaction of $1,783,710.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 968,314 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $87,148,260. This represents a 2.01 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Jack C. Liu sold 725 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $104.50, for a total transaction of $75,762.50. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 15,832 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,654,444. The trade was a 4.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 62,181 shares of company stock valued at $5,625,732 over the last quarter. 1.04% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of East West Bancorp

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. raised its holdings in shares of East West Bancorp by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 10,171 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $974,000 after purchasing an additional 336 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its position in shares of East West Bancorp by 108.5% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 54,851 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,282,000 after acquiring an additional 28,549 shares in the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its position in shares of East West Bancorp by 1,667.7% during the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 670,156 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $64,174,000 after acquiring an additional 632,245 shares in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in East West Bancorp by 18.2% during the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 100,320 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $9,699,000 after purchasing an additional 15,475 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in East West Bancorp by 10.0% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 755,555 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $72,352,000 after purchasing an additional 68,528 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.53% of the company’s stock.

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.