Community West Bancshares (NASDAQ:CWBC) Short Interest Up 27.5% in June

Community West Bancshares (NASDAQ:CWBC) saw a significant increase in short interest in the month of June. As of June 30th, there was short interest totalling 246,000 shares, an increase of 27.5% from the June 15th total of 192,900 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 59,400 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 4.1 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CWBC has been the topic of several analyst reports. StockNews.com raised Community West Bancshares from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on Community West Bancshares from $23.00 to $22.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price target on Community West Bancshares from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. 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, Community West Bancshares presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $20.33.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Anthony Kenneth Ramos purchased 13,400 shares of Community West Bancshares stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 7th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $17.25 per share, with a total value of $231,150.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the executive vice president now directly owns 22,381 shares in the company, valued at $386,072.25. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders have bought a total of 14,881 shares of company stock valued at $256,663 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 11.15% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Community West Bancshares

A hedge fund recently raised its stake in Community West Bancshares stock. Black Maple Capital Management LP increased its holdings in shares of Community West Bancshares (NASDAQ:CWBC) by 8.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. 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 approximately 0.20% of Community West Bancshares worth $304,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period. 33.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Community West Bancshares Trading Up 3.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ:CWBC opened at $20.15 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $380.23 million, a P/E ratio of 10.66 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.66. Community West Bancshares has a 1 year low of $13.55 and a 1 year high of $24.47. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $17.44 and its 200-day moving average price is $16.57.

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

Community West Bancshares Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 3rd were issued a $0.12 dividend. This is an increase from Community West Bancshares’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 2nd. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.38%. Community West Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio is currently 25.40%.

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.