Customers Bancorp (NYSE:CUBI) Shares Gap Up Following Better-Than-Expected Earnings

Customers Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE:CUBI) gapped up before the market opened on Friday following a stronger than expected earnings report. The stock had previously closed at $50.35, but opened at $53.53. Customers Bancorp shares last traded at $56.38, with a volume of 222,482 shares traded.

The bank reported $1.36 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.21 by $0.15. Customers Bancorp had a return on equity of 13.55% and a net margin of 15.22%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CUBI has been the subject of several research reports. Stephens reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and issued a $58.00 target price on shares of Customers Bancorp in a research note on Friday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on Customers Bancorp from $52.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. StockNews.com raised Customers Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, December 1st. Raymond James cut their price target on Customers Bancorp from $80.00 to $70.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, B. Riley boosted their price target on Customers Bancorp from $78.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Customers Bancorp presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $62.56.

Insider Buying and Selling at Customers Bancorp

In other Customers Bancorp news, insider Glenn Hedde sold 5,002 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.68, for a total value of $268,507.36. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 66,256 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,556,622.08. This trade represents a 7.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Jay S. Sidhu sold 860 shares of Customers Bancorp stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.73, for a total value of $47,067.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,189,738 shares in the company, valued at $65,114,360.74. This represents a 0.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 96,440 shares of company stock valued at $5,425,815 in the last quarter. 6.92% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Customers Bancorp

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. CWM LLC raised its holdings in shares of Customers Bancorp by 14.2% in the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,198 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $102,000 after buying an additional 274 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in Customers Bancorp by 21.7% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,580 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $73,000 after acquiring an additional 282 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its stake in shares of Customers Bancorp by 6.3% during the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 5,579 shares of the bank’s stock worth $272,000 after buying an additional 333 shares in the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp raised its stake in shares of Customers Bancorp by 10.4% during the 2nd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 5,850 shares of the bank’s stock worth $281,000 after buying an additional 549 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Basswood Capital Management L.L.C. acquired a new stake in shares of Customers Bancorp in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.29% of the company’s stock.

Customers Bancorp Trading Up 14.1 %

The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $51.41 and a 200 day simple moving average of $51.02. The stock has a market cap of $1.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.33 and a beta of 1.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 0.93.

About Customers Bancorp

Customers Bancorp, Inc operates as the bank holding company for Customers Bank that provides financial products and services to individual consumers, and small and middle market businesses. The company provides deposit banking products, which includes commercial and consumer checking, non-interest-bearing and interest-bearing demand, MMDA, savings, and time deposit accounts.