Community West Bancshares (NASDAQ:CWBC) Upgraded by StockNews.com to Hold Rating

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Community West Bancshares (NASDAQ:CWBC) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday morning.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on CWBC. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target on Community West Bancshares from $24.00 to $22.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. DA Davidson decreased their target price on shares of Community West Bancshares from $26.00 to $24.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $23.33.

Community West Bancshares Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of CWBC opened at $19.41 on Monday. Community West Bancshares has a fifty-two week low of $15.50 and a fifty-two week high of $24.47. The business has a 50-day moving average of $20.14 and a 200 day moving average of $19.75. The firm has a market cap of $367.74 million, a P/E ratio of 29.41 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.82.

Community West Bancshares (NASDAQ:CWBC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.45 by ($0.07). Community West Bancshares had a net margin of 4.53% and a return on equity of 8.14%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Community West Bancshares will post 1.61 EPS for the current year.

Community West Bancshares Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 7th will be given a dividend of $0.12 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 7th. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.47%. Community West Bancshares’s payout ratio is presently 92.31%.

Insider Transactions at Community West Bancshares

In other Community West Bancshares news, Director Robert Bartlein purchased 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 1st. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $18.75 per share, with a total value of $37,500.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 433,876 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,135,175. The trade was a 0.46 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Steven D. Mcdonald sold 1,860 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.51, for a total transaction of $40,008.60. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 315,531 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,787,071.81. This represents a 0.59 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have purchased 2,432 shares of company stock valued at $45,616 in the last quarter. Insiders own 11.15% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Spire Wealth Management purchased a new position in Community West Bancshares in the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new position in shares of Community West Bancshares in the third quarter worth approximately $132,000. Barclays PLC increased its stake in shares of Community West Bancshares by 228.5% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 22,057 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $424,000 after buying an additional 15,343 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in Community West Bancshares during the 3rd quarter valued at $847,000. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in Community West Bancshares during the 2nd quarter valued at $1,153,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 33.80% of the company’s stock.

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.