East West Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ: EWBC) stock jumped 1.62% on Tuesday to $50.72 against a previous-day closing price of $49.91. With 1.37 million shares changed hands, the volume of the stock remained lighter than its average volume of 1.99 million shares. During the session, the Banks – Diversified company that operates in wider Financial sector, reached to the highest price of $52.14 whereas the lowest price it dropped to was $50.25. The 52-week range on EWBC shows that it touched its highest point at $80.98 and its lowest point at $33.86 during that stretch. It currently has a 1-year price target of $67.18. With its current market cap of 7.32 billion, EWBC has annualized dividend of $1.92 while the current yield stands at 3.79%. Beta for the stock currently stands at 1.39.
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Price Performance and Earnings:
Stock performance is one of the indicators that investors use to determine whether they will profit from a stock. The price performance of EWBC was up-trending over the past week, with a rise of 9.50%, but this was down by -5.60% over a month. Three-month performance dropped to -33.07% while six-month performance fell -24.56%. The stock lost -26.39% in the past year, while it has lost -23.03% so far this year. A look at the trailing 12-month EPS for EWBC yields 8.54 with Next year EPS estimates of 8.38. For the next quarter, that number is 2.22. This implies an EPS growth rate of 29.80% for this year and -4.73% for next year. EPS is expected to grow by 8.00% annually over the next five years; however, over the past five years, the company experienced an annual growth rate of 16.10%.
Float and Shares Shorts:
At present, 141.11 million EWBC shares are outstanding with a float of 139.79 million shares on hand for trading. On Apr 27, 2023, short shares totaled 3.02 million, which was 2.14% higher than short shares on Mar 30, 2023. In addition to Mr. Dominic Ng as the firm’s Chairman, Pres & CEO, Ms. Irene H. Oh serves as its Exec. VP & CFO.
Institutional Ownership:
Through their ownership of 90.80% of EWBC’s outstanding shares, institutional investors have majority control over the company. Other institutions hold 61.12% of EWBC, in contrast to 25.92% held by mutual funds. Shares owned by individuals account for 2.80%. As the largest shareholder in EWBC with 10.26% of the stake, The Vanguard Group, Inc. holds 14,471,823 shares worth 14,471,823. A second-largest stockholder of EWBC, Capital Research & Management Co, holds 12,194,615 shares, controlling over 8.65% of the firm’s shares. BlackRock Fund Advisors is the third largest shareholder in EWBC, holding 11,929,063 shares or 8.46% stake. With a 3.49% stake in EWBC, the American Balanced Fund is the largest stakeholder. A total of 4,919,195 shares are owned by the mutual fund manager. The iShares Core S&P Mid Cap ETF, which owns about 3.12% of EWBC stock, is the second-largest Mutual Fund holder. It holds 4,398,282 shares valued at 227.35 million. Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF holds 3.09% of the stake in EWBC, owning 4,357,535 shares worth 225.24 million.
Analysts Ratings:
Reading analyst opinions is an effective way to decide where to invest, and there are several opinions available for EWBC since 0 analysts follow the stock currently. In the same way, a target price assigned to a stock can also reveal much about its potential. With EWBC analysts setting a high price target of $81.00 and a low target of $54.00, the average target price over the next 12 months is $67.18. Based on these targets, EWBC could surge 59.7% to reach the target high and rise by 6.47% to reach the target low. Reaching the average price target will result in a growth of 32.45% from current levels.
EPS: Estimates vs Actual
It is also common to use earnings estimates to evaluate a firm’s growth potential and to determine trading strategy.
Dividends & Yield:
In terms of dividends, EWBC has a current ratio of $1.92, which is $1.92 over the trailing 12-months, while a dividend of $1.18 is likely to be paid on average over the next five years. Dividend yield is another indicator that appeals to many investors, and EWBC currently yields $3.47. In the past year, EWBC’s dividend yield has been $3.47, but when looking at the stock over the past five years, its yield has been $2.14. Accordingly, EWBC has a current buyback yield of $1.7. This was $1.7 for the TTM, and it was $0.84 for the past five years.
Summary of Insider Activity:
Insiders traded EWBC stock several times over the past three months with 15 Buys and 5 Sells. In these transactions, 345,036 shares were bought while 134,609 shares were sold. The number of buy transactions has increased to 28 while that of sell transactions has risen to 8 over the past year. The total number of shares bought during that period was 363,254 while 141,809 shares were sold.
