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

Community West Bancshares (NASDAQ:CWBC) was the target of a large decrease in short interest in the month of 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 volume of 66,700 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 4.9 days.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Patrick A. Luis sold 1,650 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $534,340.82. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 11.15% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Community West Bancshares

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Systematic Financial Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Community West Bancshares in the 2nd quarter worth about $4,842,000. Private Management Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Community West Bancshares by 5.3% in the second quarter. Private Management Group Inc. now owns 557,479 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $10,313,000 after acquiring an additional 27,967 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new position in shares of Community West Bancshares in the second quarter worth approximately $1,770,000. Black Maple Capital Management LP increased its stake in shares of Community West Bancshares by 8.8% in the 4th quarter. Black Maple Capital Management LP now owns 17,475 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $304,000 after purchasing an additional 1,417 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LSV Asset Management bought a new position in shares of Community West Bancshares in the second quarter worth approximately $1,507,000. 33.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Community West Bancshares Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:CWBC traded down $0.23 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $19.03. 15,457 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 50,885. Community West Bancshares has a 12 month low of $13.55 and a 12 month high of $24.47. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $19.77 and a 200-day moving average price of $18.33. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The firm has a market cap of $359.10 million, a PE ratio of 10.19 and a beta of 0.87.

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

Community West Bancshares Dividend Announcement

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