Zacks Research Expects Weaker Earnings for East West Bancorp

East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC) – Stock analysts at Zacks Research decreased their Q4 2026 EPS estimates for shares of East West Bancorp in a research report issued to clients and investors on Tuesday, October 21st. Zacks Research analyst Team now expects that the financial services provider will post earnings of $2.40 per share for the quarter, down from their previous forecast of $2.51. The consensus estimate for East West Bancorp’s current full-year earnings is $8.85 per share.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. DA Davidson upped their price target on shares of East West Bancorp from $115.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. TD Cowen began coverage on shares of East West Bancorp in a research report on Thursday, September 25th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $139.00 price target for the company. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of East West Bancorp from $124.00 to $134.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of East West Bancorp from $110.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on shares of East West Bancorp from $140.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, East West Bancorp currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $123.85.

East West Bancorp Price Performance

East West Bancorp stock opened at $102.52 on Thursday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $104.96 and a two-hundred day moving average of $98.08. East West Bancorp has a 1 year low of $68.27 and a 1 year high of $113.95. The stock has a market cap of $14.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.89.

East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, December 11th. The financial services provider reported $2.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The company had revenue of $627.36 million during the quarter. East West Bancorp had a net margin of 27.16% and a return on equity of 15.55%.

Institutional Trading of East West Bancorp

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Park Place Capital Corp purchased a new stake in shares of East West Bancorp in the 2nd quarter valued at $27,000. Picton Mahoney Asset Management boosted its holdings in East West Bancorp by 1,971.4% during the first quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management now owns 290 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 276 shares in the last quarter. Chung Wu Investment Group LLC purchased a new stake in East West Bancorp during the second quarter worth $30,000. WPG Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in East West Bancorp during the first quarter worth $28,000. Finally, American National Bank & Trust purchased a new stake in East West Bancorp during the second quarter worth $32,000. 89.53% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at East West Bancorp

In other news, Director Jack C. Liu sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.00, for a total value of $105,000.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 14,974 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,572,270. This represents a 6.26% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Dominic Ng sold 40,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.38, for a total transaction of $4,135,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 888,314 shares in the company, valued at $91,833,901.32. This trade represents a 4.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 70,240 shares of company stock valued at $7,379,678 over the last quarter. Insiders own 1.04% of the company’s stock.

East West Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 3rd will be issued a $0.60 dividend. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 3rd. East West Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is 26.46%.

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.