Community West Bancshares (NASDAQ:CWBC) Hits New 12-Month High – Should You Buy?

Community West Bancshares (NASDAQ:CWBC) shares hit a new 52-week high on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $25.78 and last traded at $25.71, with a volume of 54335 shares. The stock had previously closed at $25.34.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have weighed in on CWBC. Zacks Research lowered Community West Bancshares from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 16th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Community West Bancshares in a research report on Friday, March 27th. DA Davidson restated a “buy” rating and issued a $29.00 price objective on shares of Community West Bancshares in a research note on Tuesday, April 28th. Wall Street Zen raised Community West Bancshares from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, May 17th. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their target price on Community West Bancshares from $30.00 to $30.50 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $28.17.

Community West Bancshares Stock Up 0.8%

The firm has a market cap of $692.90 million, a P/E ratio of 11.82 and a beta of 0.82. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $23.85 and its 200 day moving average is $23.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 0.86.

Community West Bancshares (NASDAQ:CWBC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.61 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.56 by $0.05. Community West Bancshares had a net margin of 20.77% and a return on equity of 10.44%. The firm had revenue of $38.58 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $38.23 million. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Community West Bancshares will post 2.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Community West Bancshares Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 22nd. Investors of record on Friday, May 8th were issued a dividend of $0.12 per share. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 8th. Community West Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 22.22%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CWBC. KERR FINANCIAL PLANNING Corp bought a new position in Community West Bancshares during the 1st quarter worth $38,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Community West Bancshares by 623.7% in the third quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 1,983 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 1,709 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Community West Bancshares in the second quarter valued at about $46,000. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC increased its position in Community West Bancshares by 75.5% during the second quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 3,237 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $63,000 after acquiring an additional 1,393 shares during the period. Finally, Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its position in Community West Bancshares by 2,945.9% during the fourth quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 3,381 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $76,000 after acquiring an additional 3,270 shares during the period. 33.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Community West Bancshares

Community West Bancshares, Inc is the bank holding company for Community West Bank, headquartered in Goleta, California. Through its wholly owned subsidiary, the company offers a full suite of commercial and consumer banking services. Community West Bancshares focuses on providing personalized financial solutions to small and mid-sized businesses, professional practices, and individual customers in its service area.

The company’s product portfolio includes a variety of deposit accounts—such as business checking, savings and money market accounts—along with online and mobile banking capabilities.