East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Key Points

• Wall Street Zen upgraded East West Bancorp (NASDAQ: EWBC) from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a recent report.
• Several investment firms have increased their target prices for East West Bancorp, with Citigroup raising it from $100 to $116 and Barclays from $110 to $135, showing a strong consensus towards the stock.
• The company's quarterly earnings exceeded expectations, reporting $2.28 earnings per share against the consensus estimate of $2.23, indicating a 10.3% year-over-year revenue growth.

East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC - Get Free Report) was upgraded by equities researchers at Wall Street Zen from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday.

Several other equities analysts also recently weighed in on EWBC. DA Davidson raised their target price on East West Bancorp from $115.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Truist Financial increased their price target on East West Bancorp from $102.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on East West Bancorp from $110.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on East West Bancorp from $100.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut shares of East West Bancorp from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and lowered their price target for the company from $118.00 to $90.00 in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $114.15.

East West Bancorp Stock Up 0.1%

Shares of East West Bancorp stock traded up $0.10 during trading on Friday, reaching $103.61. The company's stock had a trading volume of 948,042 shares, compared to its average volume of 946,676. The company has a quick ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The company has a market cap of $14.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.13, a P/E/G ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 0.93. East West Bancorp has a 1-year low of $68.27 and a 1-year high of $113.95. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $98.97 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $93.61.

East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.28 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.23 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $705.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $702.04 million. East West Bancorp had a return on equity of 15.09% and a net margin of 26.06%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 10.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.07 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that East West Bancorp will post 8.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other East West Bancorp news, EVP Lisa L. Kim sold 2,100 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $95.04, for a total value of $199,584.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 14,849 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,411,248.96. This trade represents a 12.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Dominic Ng sold 40,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.43, for a total value of $3,857,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 928,314 shares in the company, valued at $89,517,319.02. The trade was a 4.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.04% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. NorthRock Partners LLC lifted its stake in East West Bancorp by 29.6% during the second quarter. NorthRock Partners LLC now owns 3,425 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $346,000 after buying an additional 783 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. raised its holdings in East West Bancorp by 238.1% in the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 17,553 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,773,000 after acquiring an additional 12,362 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in East West Bancorp during the 2nd quarter worth $296,000. Vest Financial LLC lifted its position in East West Bancorp by 3.8% during the 2nd quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 476,271 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $48,094,000 after acquiring an additional 17,544 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CWM LLC boosted its holdings in East West Bancorp by 37.0% during the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 14,622 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,477,000 after acquiring an additional 3,948 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.