JPMorgan Chase & Co. Begins Coverage on Customers Bancorp (NYSE:CUBI)

JPMorgan Chase & Co. initiated coverage on shares of Customers Bancorp (NYSE:CUBI) in a report issued on Friday, Marketbeat reports. The firm set an “overweight” rating and a $90.00 price target on the bank’s stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co.‘s price target points to a potential upside of 33.43% from the company’s current price.

A number of other research firms have also commented on CUBI. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Customers Bancorp from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Monday, March 2nd. Maxim Group set a $100.00 target price on Customers Bancorp in a research report on Monday, January 26th. Stephens lowered Customers Bancorp from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $71.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Wall Street Zen cut Customers Bancorp from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, January 25th. Finally, Zacks Research raised Customers Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 26th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $88.18.

Customers Bancorp Price Performance

CUBI opened at $67.45 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $2.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.88 and a beta of 1.66. The company has a 50 day moving average of $74.78 and a two-hundred day moving average of $70.61. Customers Bancorp has a 52-week low of $40.75 and a 52-week high of $82.56. The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76.

Customers Bancorp (NYSE:CUBI) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 22nd. The bank reported $2.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.04 by $0.02. Customers Bancorp had a net margin of 15.15% and a return on equity of 14.05%. The firm had revenue of $236.90 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $200.38 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.36 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Customers Bancorp will post 6.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Customers Bancorp declared that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Wednesday, February 11th that allows the company to repurchase $100.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the bank to reacquire up to 4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Customers Bancorp

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Customers Bancorp by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,221,339 shares of the bank’s stock worth $162,424,000 after acquiring an additional 66,031 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Customers Bancorp by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,832,570 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $133,998,000 after purchasing an additional 32,449 shares during the period. Hood River Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Customers Bancorp by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter. Hood River Capital Management LLC now owns 1,523,025 shares of the bank’s stock worth $89,462,000 after purchasing an additional 23,416 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in Customers Bancorp by 7.9% in the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 945,825 shares of the bank’s stock worth $61,829,000 after purchasing an additional 69,200 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in Customers Bancorp by 3,074.6% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 871,596 shares of the bank’s stock worth $63,732,000 after buying an additional 844,141 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.29% of the company’s stock.

About Customers Bancorp

Customers Bancorp, Inc (NYSE: CUBI) is a bank holding company headquartered in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, and the parent of Customers Bank, a federally chartered institution. The company offers a full suite of commercial and consumer banking services, combining traditional deposit and lending products with modern digital banking platforms. As a publicly traded entity, Customers Bancorp focuses on delivering tailored financial solutions to mid‐market companies, small businesses, professionals and individuals across the United States.

Through its commercial banking division, the company provides term loans, lines of credit, real estate financing, asset‐based lending and treasury management services.