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

Community West Bancshares (NASDAQ:CWBC) saw a significant growth in short interest in 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 trading volume of 59,300 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.3 days.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Community West Bancshares news, EVP Anthony Kenneth Ramos bought 13,400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 purchase, the executive vice president now owns 22,381 shares in the company, valued at approximately $386,072.25. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders bought a total of 14,881 shares of company stock worth $256,663 in the last three months. Insiders own 11.15% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

An institutional investor recently raised its position in Community West Bancshares stock. Black Maple Capital Management LP raised its position in shares of Community West Bancshares (NASDAQ:CWBC) by 8.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 17,475 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,417 shares during the quarter. Black Maple Capital Management LP owned 0.20% of Community West Bancshares worth $304,000 as of its most recent SEC filing. 33.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently commented on CWBC shares. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Community West Bancshares from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Piper Sandler boosted their target price 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, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on Community West Bancshares from $23.00 to $22.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Two research 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 has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $20.33.

Community West Bancshares Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of CWBC stock opened at $18.15 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $17.26 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $16.50. The stock has a market cap of $342.49 million, a P/E ratio of 9.60 and a beta of 0.88. Community West Bancshares has a 12 month low of $13.55 and a 12 month high of $24.47. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33.

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

Community West Bancshares Increases Dividend

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

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.