Community West Bancshares (NASDAQ:CWBC) Cut to Hold at Zacks Research

Zacks Research cut shares of Community West Bancshares (NASDAQ:CWBC) from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a report released on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other research firms have also recently issued reports on CWBC. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on Community West Bancshares from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 31st. DA Davidson increased their target price on shares of Community West Bancshares from $26.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 26th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Community West Bancshares in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $24.33.

Community West Bancshares Price Performance

NASDAQ CWBC opened at $24.28 on Monday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $23.51 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $21.99. Community West Bancshares has a 52 week low of $15.57 and a 52 week high of $25.72. The stock has a market cap of $465.20 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.14 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a current ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18.

Community West Bancshares (NASDAQ:CWBC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 22nd. The financial services provider reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.03. Community West Bancshares had a return on equity of 10.11% and a net margin of 19.45%.The business had revenue of $38.30 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $38.38 million. Analysts forecast that Community West Bancshares will post 2.15 EPS for the current year.

Community West Bancshares Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 6th will be paid a $0.12 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 6th. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.0%. Community West Bancshares’s payout ratio is currently 24.00%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CWBC. Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Community West Bancshares by 623.7% during the 3rd 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 last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Community West Bancshares during the second quarter worth $46,000. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC lifted its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $63,000 after purchasing an additional 1,393 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC boosted its position in shares of Community West Bancshares by 255.4% in the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 3,184 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $66,000 after purchasing an additional 2,288 shares during the period. Finally, Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Community West Bancshares by 2,945.9% in the 4th quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 3,381 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $76,000 after purchasing an additional 3,270 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 33.80% of the company’s stock.

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.