Barclays Issues Pessimistic Forecast for East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) Stock Price

East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) had its target price trimmed by Barclays from $125.00 to $120.00 in a research report released on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an overweight rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

EWBC has been the subject of a number of other reports. UBS Group initiated coverage on East West Bancorp in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $112.00 price target for the company. Wedbush lifted their target price on East West Bancorp from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of East West Bancorp from $105.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on shares of East West Bancorp from $96.00 to $128.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of East West Bancorp from $87.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $110.23.

East West Bancorp Stock Performance

Shares of EWBC opened at $102.93 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $101.30 and a 200-day moving average of $91.05. The company has a market cap of $14.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 0.92. East West Bancorp has a 1 year low of $67.27 and a 1 year high of $113.95.

East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.09 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.06 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $1.16 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $641.80 million. East West Bancorp had a return on equity of 16.07% and a net margin of 24.96%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.02 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that East West Bancorp will post 8.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other East West Bancorp news, Director Rudolph Estrada sold 469 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.04, for a total transaction of $45,980.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 17,750 shares in the company, valued at $1,740,210. This represents a 2.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Vice Chairman Douglas Paul Krause sold 12,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.61, for a total transaction of $1,279,320.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 45,403 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,840,413.83. This trade represents a 20.90 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 23,969 shares of company stock worth $2,458,276. Company insiders own 1.04% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On East West Bancorp

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of East West Bancorp by 1.8% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,882,803 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $652,223,000 after acquiring an additional 136,528 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in East West Bancorp by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,314,994 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $439,763,000 after purchasing an additional 75,024 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in East West Bancorp by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,231,953 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $350,152,000 after purchasing an additional 96,729 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in East West Bancorp by 4.9% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,608,132 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $216,438,000 after purchasing an additional 122,738 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC boosted its stake in East West Bancorp by 7.3% in the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,804,288 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $149,287,000 after purchasing an additional 123,376 shares in the last quarter. 89.53% of the stock is currently 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.