Wells Fargo & Company Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) Stock

East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) had its price objective upped by Wells Fargo & Company from $105.00 to $120.00 in a research report issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “overweight” rating on the financial services provider’s stock. Wells Fargo & Company‘s price target would suggest a potential upside of 12.61% from the stock’s previous close.

EWBC has been the subject of a number of other reports. Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of East West Bancorp from $93.00 to $101.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of East West Bancorp from $87.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Compass Point raised their target price on shares of East West Bancorp from $93.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of East West Bancorp from $108.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, DA Davidson raised their price objective on shares of East West Bancorp from $100.00 to $107.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, East West Bancorp presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $107.08.

East West Bancorp Stock Performance

NASDAQ:EWBC opened at $106.56 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.45, a PEG ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 1.28. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $96.82 and its 200 day simple moving average is $84.29. East West Bancorp has a twelve month low of $66.39 and a twelve month high of $113.95.

East West Bancorp (NASDAQ:EWBC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 net margin of 24.96% and a return on equity of 16.07%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.02 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that East West Bancorp will post 8.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Rudolph Estrada sold 469 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.04, for a total value of $45,980.76. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 17,750 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,740,210. This represents a 2.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Irene H. Oh sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.50, for a total transaction of $985,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 117,193 shares in the company, valued at $11,543,510.50. This trade represents a 7.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 23,969 shares of company stock valued at $2,458,276. 1.04% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On East West Bancorp

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in EWBC. Covestor Ltd raised its holdings in East West Bancorp by 7.4% during the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,537 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $128,000 after purchasing an additional 106 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc grew its position in shares of East West Bancorp by 2.8% during the 2nd quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 4,753 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $348,000 after buying an additional 128 shares during the period. Lindenwold Advisors INC grew its position in shares of East West Bancorp by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. Lindenwold Advisors INC now owns 7,270 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $602,000 after buying an additional 129 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC grew its position in shares of East West Bancorp by 3.8% during the 2nd quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 3,606 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $264,000 after buying an additional 133 shares during the period. Finally, US Bancorp DE grew its position in shares of East West Bancorp by 7.8% during the 3rd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 1,949 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $161,000 after buying an additional 141 shares during the period. 89.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

East West Bancorp Company Profile

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.