Latest news with #EastWestBancorp
Bloomberg
2 days ago
- Business
- Bloomberg
Bank Stocks Near Record With Buyback, Dividend Boosts on Horizon
US bank stocks rose to their highest level in three years as investors continued to pile into the group amid speculation they will begin to boost buybacks and dividends after the lenders comfortably cleared the Federal Reserve's stress test last week. The KBW Bank Index gained as much as 1.6% Tuesday, hitting the highest level since February 2022 and about 4% from its early 2022 all-time high. The gauge is also on pace for a ninth consecutive day of gains, matching its longest winning streak on record. All but four of the gauge's 24 members were higher, led by Western Alliance Bancorp, Zions Bancorp NA and East West Bancorp Inc.
Yahoo
27-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC) Looks Interesting, And It's About To Pay A Dividend
Readers hoping to buy East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC) for its dividend will need to make their move shortly, as the stock is about to trade ex-dividend. The ex-dividend date is one business day before the record date, which is the cut-off date for shareholders to be present on the company's books to be eligible for a dividend payment. The ex-dividend date is important as the process of settlement involves a full business day. So if you miss that date, you would not show up on the company's books on the record date. Therefore, if you purchase East West Bancorp's shares on or after the 2nd of May, you won't be eligible to receive the dividend, when it is paid on the 16th of May. The company's next dividend payment will be US$0.60 per share, on the back of last year when the company paid a total of US$2.40 to shareholders. Based on the last year's worth of payments, East West Bancorp stock has a trailing yield of around 2.8% on the current share price of US$85.26. Dividends are a major contributor to investment returns for long term holders, but only if the dividend continues to be paid. As a result, readers should always check whether East West Bancorp has been able to grow its dividends, or if the dividend might be cut. We check all companies for important risks. See what we found for East West Bancorp in our free report. Dividends are usually paid out of company profits, so if a company pays out more than it earned then its dividend is usually at greater risk of being cut. Fortunately East West Bancorp's payout ratio is modest, at just 27% of profit. Generally speaking, the lower a company's payout ratios, the more resilient its dividend usually is. See our latest analysis for East West Bancorp Click here to see the company's payout ratio, plus analyst estimates of its future dividends. Companies with consistently growing earnings per share generally make the best dividend stocks, as they usually find it easier to grow dividends per share. Investors love dividends, so if earnings fall and the dividend is reduced, expect a stock to be sold off heavily at the same time. For this reason, we're glad to see East West Bancorp's earnings per share have risen 13% per annum over the last five years. The main way most investors will assess a company's dividend prospects is by checking the historical rate of dividend growth. In the last 10 years, East West Bancorp has lifted its dividend by approximately 13% a year on average. It's exciting to see that both earnings and dividends per share have grown rapidly over the past few years. Should investors buy East West Bancorp for the upcoming dividend? When companies are growing rapidly and retaining a majority of the profits within the business, it's usually a sign that reinvesting earnings creates more value than paying dividends to shareholders. This is one of the most attractive investment combinations under this analysis, as it can create substantial value for investors over the long run. In summary, East West Bancorp appears to have some promise as a dividend stock, and we'd suggest taking a closer look at it. Wondering what the future holds for East West Bancorp? See what the 10 analysts we track are forecasting, with this visualisation of its historical and future estimated earnings and cash flow If you're in the market for strong dividend payers, we recommend checking our selection of top dividend stocks. Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.
Yahoo
22-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
East West Bancorp, Inc. (EWBC): Among Small Cap Financial Stocks Hedge Funds Are Buying
We recently published a list of . In this article, we are going to take a look at where East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC) stands against other small cap financial stocks hedge funds are buying. Much like other sectors of the economy, the financial and banking sector is likely to take a hit from the tariff uncertainty and recession fears. On April 8th, Reuters reported that the bank earnings season will likely shift from profit-making banks to losses. Mike Mayo, who is an analyst at Wells Fargo noted that the bank's earning season will unveil the largest effect of tariffs in the coming quarters because banks will have to set aside higher reserves for loan losses due to recession fears. Moreover, Stephen Biggar, director of financial institutions at Argus Research, noted that banks are a direct reflection of the economy, therefore as the market slows down, this sector could be the one to take the hardest hits. To talk about the impact of tariffs on the banking sector Suryansh Sharma, senior equity analyst at Morningstar joined Yahoo Finance for an interview on April 10. He noted that the tariffs were substantially aggressive compared to what the market expected. This aggressiveness was in terms of the breadth of countries and products these tariffs targeted. Although the policy is on pause for 90 days, however, the uncertainty is far from over. Sharma believes that if these tariffs continue to stay in effect, they will be harmful to the US economy. This is important for the banking sector as the sector is tied closely to the macroeconomic performance of the United States. Therefore if the economy is not doing well, the banking and financial sector will not perform well. Sharma further elaborated on the impact of tariffs. He highlighted that if the tariffs stay in place, the macroeconomic conditions are likely to get worse, which can lead the economy towards a recession, meaning that the Fed will cut rates faster than expected. While many sectors benefit from lower interest rates, the banking sector does not. Lower interest rates mean contracting net interest income for asset management and banking stocks. Moreover, given the high levels of uncertainty, loan growth is also anticipated to head downwards, thereby impacting the overall Merger and Acquisition activity. Sharma highlighted that the market anticipated that the Trump administration would result in a lot of M&A activity leading to a banking sector boom, however, the current situation points towards a banking sector bust. Lastly, the analyst highlighted that Morningstar believes that the banking sector is still undervalued compared to other sectors, however, very slightly undervalued. Therefore, he suggests investors be very selective in choosing the banks they want to invest in. He likes financial stocks that have strong fee-generating capabilities and are comparatively more undervalued than their fair value. To compile the list of 15 small-cap financial stocks hedge funds are buying, we used the Finviz Stock Screener and Insider Monkey's Q4 2024 hedge funds database. Using the screener we aggregated a list of financial services stocks that are trading at a market cap of at least $10 billion. For the purpose of this article, we are defining small-cap financial services stocks as those that trade between a market cap of $10 billion and $20 billion. Next, after cross-checking the market capitalization from Yahoo Finance, we ranked the stocks in ascending order of the number of hedge fund holders. In cases where two or more stocks were held by an equal number of hedge funds, we used the market cap as a tiebreaker. Please note that the data was collected on April 18, 2025. Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter's strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 373.4% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 218 percentage points (). A woman discussing her mortgage plan with a banker in the office of the bank. East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC) is a bank holding company of East West Bank. It provides a range of banking services through Consumer and Business, Commercial, Treasury, and other Banking segments. The company had more than $70 billion in assets in 2024. On April 8th, Jared Shaw, an analyst from Barclays maintained a Buy rating on the stock with a price target of $105. Over the past 5 years, East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC) has been focused on growing its deposits as one of the key drivers of its balance sheet. As a result, the bank has been able to fund new loans while maintaining a strong liquidity position. In 2024 alone, the bank achieved a 13% growth in deposits and reached $63.2 billion. Moreover, the company also grew its total average loans by 6% in 2024, which was in alignment with the previous guidance. Management expects Commercial and Industrial Lending to pick up growth in Q1 of 2025, which will improve the overall business for the company. It is one of the small-cap financial stocks that hedge funds are buying. Overall, EWBC ranks 13th on our list of small cap financial stocks hedge funds are buying. While we acknowledge the potential of EWBC to grow, our conviction lies in the belief that AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and doing so within a shorter time frame. There is an AI stock that went up since the beginning of 2025, while popular AI stocks lost around 25%. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than EWBC but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about this . READ NEXT: and . Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at . Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
05-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Is East West Bancorp (EWBC) the Best Regional Bank Dividend Stock to Buy?
We recently published a list of the 11 Best Regional Bank Dividend Stocks to Buy. In this article, we are going to take a look at where East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC) stands against other best regional bank dividend stocks. The year 2024 proved to be a strong one for major US banks, with the six largest institutions collectively reporting a 20% increase in net profits compared to the previous year, according to FactSet data. This performance ranks among the most successful years for the US banking sector in the past two decades. The industry rebounded significantly following the widely publicized bank failures of 2023, which saw several prominent lenders collapse. Based on Financial Times estimates, trading revenue for the year climbed to $123 billion, reflecting a 10% rise from 2023, while investment banking fees jumped 34% to $36 billion. This surge was driven by a recovery in dealmaking activity later in the year, as more companies moved forward with equity and debt offerings. Regional banks have been gaining momentum within the banking sector following the regional banking turmoil of spring 2023, which prompted lenders to prioritize liquidity, often at any cost. While their performance was strong relative to the Russell small cap index, it still fell short of the broader market's full-year return of over 25.02%. Despite the gains in 2024, bank stocks have lagged the broader market over multiple years, creating an attractive investment opportunity at historically low valuations. By the end of the year, the price-to-earnings (P/E) multiples of the Regional Banking Index and Community Bank Index were nearly half that of the broader market's, highlighting their relative discount. Moreover, in the fourth quarter of 2024, approximately two-thirds of US regional banks reported higher earnings compared to the previous year. According to S&P Global Market Intelligence, 35 out of 51 banks with assets between $10 billion and $100 billion saw year-over-year growth in earnings per share (EPS) for the fourth quarter, based on financial reports released between January 13 and January 24. In addition, 27 regional banks posted quarter-over-quarter improvements, while 22 recorded EPS gains on both a quarterly and annual basis. Meanwhile, only 11 regional banks experienced EPS declines in both comparisons. A report from S&P Global Ratings noted that fourth-quarter net income improved due to easing pressures on net interest margins (NIM) and an increase in fee income. For the full year 2024, the net income benefited from reduced provisions and stable fee income, though NIM compression partially offset these gains. Regional banks saw another consecutive increase in net interest income (NII) during the quarter, supported by modest loan growth and an improved NIM. However, for the full year, NII remained under pressure. The report further mentioned that in the fourth quarter, median NIM rose by 5 basis points to 3.14%, as declining deposit costs outweighed the impact of lower loan yields and asset repricing. The firm anticipates a slight increase in earnings for 2025, driven by the possibility of higher NIMs and a gradual uptick in loan growth. The banking sector remains a favorite among investors as it ranks among the top two sectors for dividend payments. An S&P Global report estimated that banks worldwide distribute approximately $380 billion in dividends. Given this, we will take a look at some of the best dividend stocks from the regional banking sector. A woman discussing her mortgage plan with a banker in the office of the bank. For this article, we used a Yahoo Finance screener to identify regional banking companies. From the resultant list, we picked 11 stocks with the highest number of hedge fund investors, as per Insider Monkey's database of Q4 2024. The stocks are ranked in ascending order of hedge funds' sentiment towards them. Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter's strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 373.4% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 218 percentage points (). Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 33 East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC) is a California-based bank holding company that offers a wide range of commercial, wealth management, and international services. With 98 branches across major metropolitan areas in the US and four locations in Asia facilitating cross-border business, the company leverages its extensive experience in international banking. In addition to serving a high-growth demographic and catering to a lucrative market niche, East West has consistently delivered strong profitability. A comparison with industry peers reveals that the company has maintained superior credit performance over the past decade while outperforming its competitors. In the past 12 months, the stock has surged by nearly 3%. In the fourth quarter of 2024, East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC) reported revenue of $675.8 million, which showed a 4% growth from the same period last year. The revenue also beat analysts' estimates by $17.6 million. It also achieved new highs in net income and earnings per share. The company delivered a 17% return on average tangible common equity for its shareholders. Deposits grew by over $7 billion, underscoring the strength of its customer relationships. In addition, fee income increased by 12% year-over-year, reaching a record level, driven by strong contributions from wealth management, lending, and deposit account fees. With a solid capital foundation and industry-leading profitability, East West Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EWBC) announced an additional $300 million in share repurchase authorization. On January 27, the company declared a 9.1% hike in its quarterly dividend to $0.60 per share. This marked the company's seventh consecutive year of dividend growth, which makes EWBC one of the best dividend stocks on our list. The stock has a dividend yield of 3.08%, as of April 3. Overall, EWBC ranks 11th on our list of the best dividend stocks from the regional banking sector. While we acknowledge the potential of EWBC as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that some deeply undervalued dividend stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns, and doing so within a shorter time frame. If you are looking for a deeply undervalued dividend stock that is more promising than EWBC but that trades at 10 times its earnings and grows its earnings at double digit rates annually, check out our report about the . READ NEXT: 20 Best AI Stocks To Buy Now and 30 Best Stocks to Buy Now According to Billionaires. Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at . Sign in to access your portfolio
