Community West Bancshares (NASDAQ:CWBC) Short Interest Down 7.5% in September

Community West Bancshares (NASDAQ:CWBC) was the target of a significant decrease in short interest in September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 328,000 shares, a decrease of 7.5% from the August 31st total of 354,600 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 66,700 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 4.9 days.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Patrick A. Luis sold 1,650 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.37, for a total transaction of $31,960.50. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 27,586 shares in the company, valued at $534,340.82. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 11.15% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Community West Bancshares

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CWBC. Bfsg LLC purchased a new stake in Community West Bancshares during the second quarter worth about $82,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Community West Bancshares in the second quarter worth $106,000. Bridgewealth Advisory Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Community West Bancshares in the second quarter worth $226,000. Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Community West Bancshares during the second quarter worth $268,000. Finally, Private Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Community West Bancshares in the second quarter valued at $267,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 33.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CWBC has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Piper Sandler raised their price target on shares of Community West Bancshares from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. StockNews.com downgraded Community West Bancshares from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $20.33.

Community West Bancshares Price Performance

Shares of Community West Bancshares stock traded down $0.23 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $19.03. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 15,457 shares, compared to its average volume of 50,885. The company has a market cap of $359.10 million, a PE ratio of 10.19 and a beta of 0.87. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $19.77 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $18.33. Community West Bancshares has a 12-month low of $13.55 and a 12-month high of $24.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.80.

Community West Bancshares (NASDAQ:CWBC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.41 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.01) by $0.42. The business had revenue of $30.46 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $37.14 million. Community West Bancshares had a net margin of 7.51% and a return on equity of 9.99%. Analysts expect that Community West Bancshares will post 1.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Community West Bancshares Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 2nd were given a dividend of $0.12 per share. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.52%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 2nd. Community West Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.