Customers Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE:CUBI) Short Interest Update

Customers Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE:CUBI) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,980,000 shares, an increase of 5.9% from the March 15th total of 1,870,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 284,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 7.0 days. Approximately 6.8% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Carla A. Leibold sold 35,832 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.15, for a total transaction of $1,904,470.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 41,224 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,191,055.60. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, insider Glenn Hedde sold 666 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.20, for a total value of $36,097.20. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 69,428 shares in the company, valued at $3,762,997.60. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Carla A. Leibold sold 35,832 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.15, for a total value of $1,904,470.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 41,224 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,191,055.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 9.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Customers Bancorp

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. BlackRock Inc. increased its position in shares of Customers Bancorp by 4.6% during the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 4,837,269 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $252,216,000 after purchasing an additional 214,065 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in Customers Bancorp by 56.3% during the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,282,972 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $119,034,000 after acquiring an additional 822,072 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Customers Bancorp by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,153,952 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $124,114,000 after acquiring an additional 40,134 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Customers Bancorp by 28.7% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,132,205 shares of the bank’s stock worth $73,454,000 after acquiring an additional 475,907 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Customers Bancorp by 3.0% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,075,046 shares of the bank’s stock worth $61,172,000 after purchasing an additional 61,350 shares during the period. 89.29% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CUBI has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. B. Riley upped their price target on Customers Bancorp from $62.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 29th. Raymond James raised their target price on shares of Customers Bancorp from $65.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 29th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on shares of Customers Bancorp from $61.00 to $64.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Finally, Wedbush dropped their price objective on shares of Customers Bancorp from $70.00 to $65.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 26th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Customers Bancorp presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $61.86.

Customers Bancorp Price Performance

Customers Bancorp stock opened at $46.45 on Thursday. Customers Bancorp has a 52-week low of $15.80 and a 52-week high of $60.09. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $51.91 and its 200 day moving average is $48.33. The company has a market cap of $1.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.35 and a beta of 1.67.

Customers Bancorp (NYSE:CUBI) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The bank reported $1.90 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.76 by $0.14. Customers Bancorp had a net margin of 17.23% and a return on equity of 18.75%. The firm had revenue of $191.18 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $187.87 million. Sell-side analysts forecast that Customers Bancorp will post 6.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Customers Bancorp Company Profile

Customers Bancorp, Inc operates as the bank holding company for Customers Bank that provides financial products and services to individual consumers, and small and middle market businesses. The company provides deposit banking products, which includes commercial and consumer checking, non-interest-bearing and interest-bearing demand, MMDA, savings, and time deposit accounts.