Community West Bancshares (NASDAQ:CWBC) Raises Dividend to $0.12 Per Share

Community West Bancshares (NASDAQ:CWBC) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, April 18th, Zacks reports. Investors of record on Friday, May 3rd will be paid a dividend of 0.12 per share by the financial services provider on Friday, May 17th. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 2nd. This is an increase from Community West Bancshares’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08.

Community West Bancshares has increased its dividend payment by an average of 24.9% annually over the last three years. Community West Bancshares has a payout ratio of 11.9% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Community West Bancshares to earn $2.85 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.32 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 11.2%.

Community West Bancshares Price Performance

Shares of CWBC opened at $18.10 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $15.84 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $15.04. The stock has a market cap of $161.27 million, a P/E ratio of 9.58 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a current ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. Community West Bancshares has a 1 year low of $12.59 and a 1 year high of $24.47.

Community West Bancshares (NASDAQ:CWBC) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 18th. The financial services provider reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.52 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $22.38 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $21.86 million. Community West Bancshares had a net margin of 20.04% and a return on equity of 11.58%. On average, equities analysts predict that Community West Bancshares will post 1.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Piper Sandler upped their target price on Community West Bancshares from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. TheStreet downgraded Community West Bancshares from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Monday, January 29th. Finally, StockNews.com started coverage on Community West Bancshares in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. They set a “hold” rating for the company.

Institutional Trading of Community West Bancshares

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of CWBC. Royal Bank of Canada bought a new stake in shares of Community West Bancshares during the 4th quarter worth $90,000. Jane Street Group LLC acquired a new position in Community West Bancshares in the 1st quarter worth about $165,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC acquired a new position in Community West Bancshares in the 1st quarter worth about $214,000. Alliancebernstein L.P. acquired a new position in Community West Bancshares in the 4th quarter worth about $237,000. Finally, State Street Corp increased its holdings in Community West Bancshares by 44.9% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 17,252 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $247,000 after purchasing an additional 5,343 shares in the last quarter. 33.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Community West Bancshares Company Profile

Community West Bancshares operates as the bank holding company for Community West Bank, N.A. that provides various financial products and services in California. The company offers deposit products, such as checking accounts, savings accounts, money market accounts, and fixed rate and fixed maturity certificates of deposits; and cash management products.