Zacks Research Analysts Boost Earnings Estimates for EWBC

East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC) – Investment analysts at Zacks Research lifted their Q1 2025 EPS estimates for East West Bancorp in a research note issued on Tuesday, November 12th. Zacks Research analyst R. Department now expects that the financial services provider will post earnings of $1.99 per share for the quarter, up from their previous forecast of $1.97. The consensus estimate for East West Bancorp’s current full-year earnings is $8.36 per share. Zacks Research also issued estimates for East West Bancorp’s Q2 2025 earnings at $2.08 EPS, FY2025 earnings at $8.48 EPS, Q1 2026 earnings at $2.19 EPS, Q2 2026 earnings at $2.21 EPS, Q3 2026 earnings at $2.35 EPS and FY2026 earnings at $9.24 EPS.

A number of other research firms also recently weighed in on EWBC. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on East West Bancorp from $103.00 to $106.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of East West Bancorp from $87.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Barclays upped their target price on shares of East West Bancorp from $108.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Truist Financial increased their price target 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. Finally, Wedbush boosted their price objective on shares of East West Bancorp from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $102.25.

East West Bancorp Stock Performance

EWBC stock opened at $103.34 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $14.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.92. East West Bancorp has a 1 year low of $60.34 and a 1 year high of $107.68. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $89.70 and its 200-day moving average price is $81.44.

East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.09 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.06 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $1.16 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $641.80 million. East West Bancorp had a net margin of 24.96% and a return on equity of 16.07%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.02 EPS.

East West Bancorp Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 4th were issued a dividend of $0.55 per share. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.13%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 4th. East West Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 27.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling at East West Bancorp

In related news, Director Rudolph Estrada sold 469 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.04, for a total value of $45,980.76. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 17,750 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,740,210. The trade was a 2.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Vice Chairman Douglas Paul Krause sold 12,000 shares of the firm’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 value of $1,279,320.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 45,403 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,840,413.83. This represents a 20.90 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 25,969 shares of company stock valued at $2,625,276 in the last three months. 1.04% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On East West Bancorp

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of East West Bancorp by 4.9% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,608,132 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $216,438,000 after buying an additional 122,738 shares during the last quarter. Vestcor Inc grew its position in East West Bancorp by 6.9% in the third quarter. Vestcor Inc now owns 11,383 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $942,000 after acquiring an additional 737 shares in the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp increased its stake in East West Bancorp by 3.8% during the third quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 29,077 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,406,000 after acquiring an additional 1,068 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC increased its stake in East West Bancorp by 12.2% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 145,310 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $12,023,000 after acquiring an additional 15,829 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC raised its position in East West Bancorp by 25.9% during the third quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 11,327 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $937,000 after purchasing an additional 2,328 shares during the period. 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.