Community West Bancshares (NASDAQ:CWBC) Stock Rating Upgraded by Benchmark

Community West Bancshares (NASDAQ:CWBC) was upgraded by Benchmark to a “strong-buy” rating in a note issued to investors on Wednesday, Zacks reports.

Separately, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Community West Bancshares in a research report on Friday, July 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Community West Bancshares currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $28.17.

Community West Bancshares Stock Up 3.7%

Community West Bancshares stock opened at $26.36 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $715.15 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.25 and a beta of 0.81. 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 business’s 50-day moving average price is $25.96 and its 200 day moving average price is $24.95. Community West Bancshares has a 52 week low of $19.78 and a 52 week high of $28.17.

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

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Jagroop Gill bought 4,770 shares of Community West Bancshares stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 10th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $24.88 per share, with a total value of $118,677.60. Following the purchase, the director owned 588,067 shares in the company, valued at $14,631,106.96. This represents a 0.82% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders have bought a total of 5,374 shares of company stock valued at $133,078 over the last quarter. 9.03% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Community West Bancshares

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Community West Bancshares during the 2nd quarter valued at $311,000. Engineers Gate Manager LP purchased a new stake in Community West Bancshares during the second quarter worth approximately $485,000. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC increased its holdings in Community West Bancshares by 6.3% in the 2nd quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 10,462 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $281,000 after purchasing an additional 617 shares in the last quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC purchased a new position in Community West Bancshares in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $4,039,000. Finally, Mraz Amerine & Associates Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Community West Bancshares during the second quarter worth $222,000. 33.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Community West Bancshares

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.