Zacks Research Issues Optimistic Estimate for EWBC Earnings

East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC) – Equities research analysts at Zacks Research lifted their Q3 2025 earnings per share estimates for shares of East West Bancorp in a report released on Tuesday, September 9th. Zacks Research analyst Team now anticipates that the financial services provider will earn $2.24 per share for the quarter, up from their prior forecast of $2.23. The consensus estimate for East West Bancorp’s current full-year earnings is $8.85 per share. Zacks Research also issued estimates for East West Bancorp’s FY2025 earnings at $8.82 EPS, Q3 2026 earnings at $2.39 EPS, Q4 2026 earnings at $2.51 EPS, FY2026 earnings at $9.47 EPS and FY2027 earnings at $10.08 EPS.

Several other research firms have also weighed in on EWBC. Cantor Fitzgerald assumed coverage on East West Bancorp in a research report on Wednesday. They set an “overweight” rating and a $124.00 price target on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on East West Bancorp from $100.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on East West Bancorp in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. They set a “buy” rating and a $115.00 target price for the company. Truist Financial raised their price objective on East West Bancorp from $102.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded East West Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Sunday, August 3rd. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $116.64.

East West Bancorp Stock Down 0.2%

Shares of East West Bancorp stock opened at $107.99 on Wednesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $104.61 and its 200-day moving average is $94.41. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.88 billion, a PE ratio of 12.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a quick ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. East West Bancorp has a 12-month low of $68.27 and a 12-month high of $113.95.

East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.23 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $705.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $702.04 million. East West Bancorp had a return on equity of 15.09% and a net margin of 26.06%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.07 EPS.

East West Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 4th were given a $0.60 dividend. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 4th. East West Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 28.04%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Dominic Ng sold 40,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.38, for a total value of $4,135,200.00. Following the transaction, 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Irene H. Oh sold 15,051 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.73, for a total value of $1,606,393.23. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 113,353 shares in the company, valued at $12,098,165.69. This represents a 11.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 70,240 shares of company stock valued at $7,379,678 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 1.04% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in East West Bancorp by 155.6% during the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 7,714,661 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $692,468,000 after acquiring an additional 4,696,157 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of East West Bancorp during the second quarter worth approximately $174,431,000. Earnest Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of East West Bancorp during the first quarter worth approximately $137,390,000. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in East West Bancorp during the 1st quarter worth $83,330,000. Finally, Boston Partners increased its stake in East West Bancorp by 39.6% during the 2nd quarter. Boston Partners now owns 3,241,088 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $327,271,000 after acquiring an additional 920,159 shares during the period. 89.53% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.