Short Interest in Community West Bancshares (NASDAQ:CWBC) Increases By 5.5%

Community West Bancshares (NASDAQ:CWBC) saw a large growth in short interest during the month of June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 192,900 shares, a growth of 5.5% from the May 31st total of 182,800 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 59,300 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.3 days.

Community West Bancshares Stock Performance

CWBC traded down $0.04 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $18.15. 30,257 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 50,141. The firm has a market cap of $342.49 million, a P/E ratio of 9.64 and a beta of 0.88. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $17.26 and its 200 day moving average is $16.49. The company has a quick ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. Community West Bancshares has a one year low of $13.55 and a one year high of $24.47.

Community West Bancshares (NASDAQ:CWBC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The financial services provider reported $0.31 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.46 by ($0.15). The company had revenue of $20.71 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $21.67 million. Community West Bancshares had a net margin of 20.04% and a return on equity of 11.29%. As a group, equities analysts predict that Community West Bancshares will post 1.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Community West Bancshares Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.12 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 2nd. This is an increase from Community West Bancshares’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.64%. Community West Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio is 25.40%.

Insider Activity at Community West Bancshares

In other Community West Bancshares news, EVP Anthony Kenneth Ramos bought 13,400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 7th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $17.25 per share, for a total transaction of $231,150.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 22,381 shares in the company, valued at $386,072.25. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In the last three months, insiders have purchased 14,881 shares of company stock valued at $256,663. 11.15% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Community West Bancshares

A hedge fund recently bought a new stake in Community West Bancshares stock. Private Management Group Inc. purchased a new position in Community West Bancshares (NASDAQ:CWBC) during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 529,512 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $10,532,000. Private Management Group Inc. owned approximately 5.94% of Community West Bancshares at the end of the most recent quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 33.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on CWBC. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on shares of Community West Bancshares from $23.00 to $22.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of Community West Bancshares from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Community West Bancshares from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Community West Bancshares presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $20.33.

About Community West Bancshares

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.