Brokers Issue Forecasts for East West Bancorp, Inc.’s FY2024 Earnings (NASDAQ:EWBC)

East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC) – Stock analysts at DA Davidson dropped their FY2024 earnings per share estimates for East West Bancorp in a research report issued on Wednesday, April 17th. DA Davidson analyst G. Tenner now anticipates that the financial services provider will post earnings per share of $8.21 for the year, down from their previous forecast of $8.28. The consensus estimate for East West Bancorp’s current full-year earnings is $7.86 per share. DA Davidson also issued estimates for East West Bancorp’s FY2025 earnings at $8.34 EPS.

East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, January 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.02 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.89 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $654.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $641.91 million. East West Bancorp had a return on equity of 18.47% and a net margin of 29.11%. East West Bancorp’s quarterly revenue was down 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.37 earnings per share.

EWBC has been the subject of a number of other reports. Compass Point lifted their price objective on East West Bancorp from $83.00 to $88.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on East West Bancorp from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 1st. Barclays initiated coverage on East West Bancorp in a report on Friday, March 8th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $106.00 price objective for the company. Citigroup raised their target price on East West Bancorp from $85.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on East West Bancorp from $76.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $83.15.

East West Bancorp Stock Up 1.5 %

Shares of EWBC stock opened at $72.88 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $10.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.91 and a beta of 1.39. East West Bancorp has a one year low of $41.12 and a one year high of $79.54. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $74.41 and a 200 day moving average price of $67.70. 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 Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 2nd were given a dividend of $0.55 per share. This is a positive change from East West Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.02%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 1st. East West Bancorp’s payout ratio is presently 26.89%.

Insider Transactions at East West Bancorp

In other news, Director Molly Campbell sold 1,625 shares of the business’s 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 directly owns 10,321 shares in the company, valued at approximately $797,400.46. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other 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 transaction, the director now owns 10,321 shares in the company, valued at approximately $797,400.46. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed 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 shares were 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 in the company, valued at approximately $1,231,655.62. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.91% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On East West Bancorp

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted 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 valued at $803,502,000 after acquiring an additional 215,281 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. lifted its stake in East West Bancorp by 1.0% in the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 13,149,984 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $729,824,000 after acquiring an additional 128,474 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors lifted its stake in East West Bancorp by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 11,582,254 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $833,469,000 after acquiring an additional 159,963 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its stake in East West Bancorp by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 8,416,534 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $443,635,000 after acquiring an additional 306,473 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp lifted its stake in East West Bancorp by 15.0% in the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,793,739 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $321,553,000 after acquiring an additional 756,930 shares in the last quarter. 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.