Barclays Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) Stock

East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) had its price objective hoisted by analysts at Barclays from $105.00 to $110.00 in a note issued to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “overweight” rating on the financial services provider’s stock. Barclays‘s price objective suggests a potential upside of 27.95% from the company’s previous close.

Several other research firms have also commented on EWBC. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of East West Bancorp from $120.00 to $100.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Piper Sandler decreased their price target on shares of East West Bancorp from $100.00 to $97.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 27th. DA Davidson cut their price objective on East West Bancorp from $120.00 to $118.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 24th. StockNews.com lowered East West Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, March 28th. Finally, Morgan Stanley downgraded East West Bancorp from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $118.00 to $90.00 in a report on Monday, April 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, East West Bancorp has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $105.46.

East West Bancorp Stock Up 1.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ EWBC opened at $85.97 on Wednesday. East West Bancorp has a 52-week low of $68.27 and a 52-week high of $113.95. The business’s 50 day moving average is $85.66 and its two-hundred day moving average is $94.78. The firm has a market cap of $11.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.32, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a quick ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46.

East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.05 by $0.04. East West Bancorp had a return on equity of 15.71% and a net margin of 25.73%. The firm had revenue of $693.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $673.02 million. Research analysts predict that East West Bancorp will post 8.85 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other East West Bancorp news, CEO Dominic Ng sold 20,181 shares of East West Bancorp stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.01, for a total transaction of $1,816,491.81. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 988,133 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $88,941,851.33. The trade was a 2.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Jack C. Liu sold 725 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $104.50, for a total value of $75,762.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 15,832 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,654,444. This represents a 4.38 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 62,181 shares of company stock worth $5,625,732 in the last ninety days. 1.04% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of EWBC. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new position in shares of East West Bancorp during the third quarter worth about $26,000. Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in East West Bancorp during the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of East West Bancorp by 73.2% in the 4th quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 414 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 175 shares during the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its holdings in shares of East West Bancorp by 89.7% in the first quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 518 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 245 shares during the period. Finally, Grove Bank & Trust raised its stake in shares of East West Bancorp by 448.9% during the first quarter. Grove Bank & Trust now owns 516 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 422 shares during the last quarter. 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.