Brokerages Set Community West Bancshares (NASDAQ:CWBC) PT at $28.17

Shares of Community West Bancshares (NASDAQ:CWBC) have received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the five analysts that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $28.1667.

Separately, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Community West Bancshares in a research report on Friday, July 10th.

Community West Bancshares Trading Up 0.2%

Shares of CWBC opened at $26.01 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $26.09 and its 200 day moving average price is $24.86. The company has a quick ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The firm has a market capitalization of $705.65 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.06 and a beta of 0.81. Community West Bancshares has a 12-month low of $19.78 and a 12-month high of $28.17.

Community West Bancshares (NASDAQ:CWBC) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.45 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.30 by $0.15. The firm had revenue of $54.30 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $55.65 million. Community West Bancshares had a return on equity of 10.12% and a net margin of 16.86%. As a group, research analysts predict that Community West Bancshares will post 2.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Community West Bancshares Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 21st. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 7th were issued a $0.12 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 7th. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.8%. Community West Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio is presently 25.95%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Jagroop Gill acquired 4,770 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 10th. The stock was bought at an average price of $24.88 per share, with a total value of $118,677.60. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 588,067 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,631,106.96. This represents a 0.82% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders have bought 5,374 shares of company stock worth $133,078 over the last quarter. 9.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Community West Bancshares

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in CWBC. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in Community West Bancshares in the 2nd quarter valued at about $64,110,000. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in Community West Bancshares by 275.2% during the 2nd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,136,107 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $30,516,000 after purchasing an additional 833,312 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in Community West Bancshares by 4.7% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 840,454 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $19,582,000 after purchasing an additional 38,044 shares during the last quarter. Systematic Financial Management LP raised its stake in shares of Community West Bancshares by 34.1% during the fourth quarter. Systematic Financial Management LP now owns 411,859 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $9,267,000 after buying an additional 104,779 shares during the last quarter. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company acquired a new position in shares of Community West Bancshares in the 2nd quarter valued at $9,091,000. 33.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Community West Bancshares Company Profile

Community West Bancshares is the bank holding company for Community West Bank, a California-based community bank headquartered in Goleta. Through its banking subsidiary, the company provides financial services to businesses, professionals, nonprofit organizations and individual customers.

Community West Bank offers business and personal deposit accounts, commercial and industrial lending, commercial real estate loans, construction financing, Small Business Administration loans and residential mortgage products.