DA Davidson Cuts Earnings Estimates for East West Bancorp

East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC) – Research analysts at DA Davidson lowered their Q1 2025 earnings estimates for East West Bancorp in a report released on Wednesday, April 2nd. DA Davidson analyst G. Tenner now anticipates 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 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 $8.85 per share. DA Davidson also issued estimates for East West Bancorp’s FY2026 earnings at $9.51 EPS.

A number of other research analysts have also recently issued reports on EWBC. Barclays lowered their price objective on East West Bancorp from $125.00 to $120.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of East West Bancorp from $96.00 to $128.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective 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, January 27th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of East West Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, March 28th. Finally, Stephens downgraded shares of East West Bancorp from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $111.31.

East West Bancorp Price Performance

EWBC stock opened at $90.75 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 0.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.89, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.28. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $94.59 and a 200-day moving average price of $95.65. East West Bancorp has a 52-week low of $68.78 and a 52-week high of $113.95.

East West Bancorp Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.60 per share. This is a boost from East West Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.64%. East West Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 28.81%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Jack C. Liu sold 1,275 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $104.53, for a total value of $133,275.75. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 14,557 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,521,643.21. The trade was a 8.05 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Dominic Ng sold 19,819 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.00, for a total transaction of $1,783,710.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 968,314 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $87,148,260. This trade represents a 2.01 % 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 worth $5,625,732 over the last three months. 1.04% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On East West Bancorp

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in East West Bancorp by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,197,068 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,359,511,000 after acquiring an additional 70,503 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of East West Bancorp by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,990,468 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $765,167,000 after purchasing an additional 107,665 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of East West Bancorp by 1.4% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,314,994 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $439,763,000 after buying an additional 75,024 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in East West Bancorp by 4.4% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,418,840 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $423,148,000 after buying an additional 186,887 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in East West Bancorp by 17.0% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,018,504 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $289,052,000 after buying an additional 437,676 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.