Wedbush Analysts Reduce Earnings Estimates for East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC)

East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC) – Equities researchers at Wedbush lowered their Q1 2025 EPS estimates for East West Bancorp in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday, September 24th. Wedbush analyst D. Chiaverini now forecasts that the financial services provider will post earnings per share of $1.97 for the quarter, down from their previous estimate of $2.02. Wedbush currently has a “Outperform” rating and a $100.00 target price on the stock. The consensus estimate for East West Bancorp’s current full-year earnings is $8.17 per share. Wedbush also issued estimates for East West Bancorp’s Q2 2025 earnings at $2.01 EPS, Q3 2025 earnings at $2.08 EPS, Q4 2025 earnings at $2.07 EPS, FY2025 earnings at $8.12 EPS and FY2026 earnings at $8.70 EPS.

East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.07 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.97 by $0.10. East West Bancorp had a net margin of 25.40% and a return on equity of 16.64%. The firm had revenue of $638.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $631.61 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.20 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .9% on a year-over-year basis.

EWBC has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of East West Bancorp from $72.50 to $92.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on shares of East West Bancorp from $94.00 to $85.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 3rd. Truist Financial decreased their price target on shares of East West Bancorp from $96.00 to $93.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, September 20th. StockNews.com raised shares of East West Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of East West Bancorp from $85.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, East West Bancorp currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $89.53.

East West Bancorp Stock Performance

Shares of East West Bancorp stock opened at $81.53 on Thursday. East West Bancorp has a fifty-two week low of $49.59 and a fifty-two week high of $89.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.92. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.26, a P/E/G ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 1.29. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $81.46 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $77.01.

East West Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 2nd were given a $0.55 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 2nd. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.70%. East West Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is 27.71%.

Insider Transactions at East West Bancorp

In other news, Director Jack C. Liu sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.50, for a total value of $167,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 16,557 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,382,509.50. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, Director Jack C. Liu sold 2,000 shares of East West Bancorp stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.50, for a total transaction of $167,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 16,557 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,382,509.50. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Rudolph Estrada sold 1,896 shares of East West Bancorp stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.77, for a total transaction of $166,411.92. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 18,470 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,621,111.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 13,346 shares of company stock valued at $1,108,160. Company insiders own 1.04% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in EWBC. Capital International Investors boosted its position in shares of East West Bancorp by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 11,582,254 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $833,469,000 after acquiring an additional 159,963 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors purchased a new position in East West Bancorp in the 1st quarter worth about $338,142,000. Schroder Investment Management Group increased its stake in East West Bancorp by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 2,462,062 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $177,145,000 after buying an additional 72,746 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in East West Bancorp by 16.4% in the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,993,953 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $157,742,000 after buying an additional 280,680 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in East West Bancorp by 7.0% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,822,886 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $133,480,000 after buying an additional 118,658 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.