Community West Bancshares (NASDAQ:CWBC) Lowered to Sell at StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of Community West Bancshares (NASDAQ:CWBC) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a report issued on Monday.

Several other research analysts have also recently weighed in on CWBC. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered 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. TheStreet lowered shares of Community West Bancshares from a b- rating to a c+ rating in a report on Monday, January 29th. Finally, Piper Sandler increased 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $20.33.

Community West Bancshares Stock Performance

NASDAQ:CWBC opened at $17.62 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $156.99 million, a P/E ratio of 9.32 and a beta of 0.85. Community West Bancshares has a twelve month low of $12.59 and a twelve month high of $24.47. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $15.90 and its 200-day moving average price is $15.11. 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 (NASDAQ:CWBC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 26th. The financial services provider reported $0.05 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.24 by ($0.19). The company had revenue of $11.02 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.60 million. Community West Bancshares had a net margin of 20.04% and a return on equity of 11.58%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Community West Bancshares will post 1.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Community West Bancshares Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.12 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 2nd. This is a boost from Community West Bancshares’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.72%. Community West Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio is currently 25.40%.

Institutional Trading of Community West Bancshares

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

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.