Community West Bancshares (NASDAQ:CWBC) Rating Increased to Hold at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Community West Bancshares (NASDAQ:CWBC) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research note issued to investors on Sunday morning.

A number of other equities analysts also recently commented on the company. DA Davidson reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $29.00 price objective on shares of Community West Bancshares in a research report on Tuesday, April 28th. Zacks Research downgraded Community West Bancshares from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 16th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Community West Bancshares in a research report on Friday, March 27th. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on Community West Bancshares from $30.00 to $30.50 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $28.17.

Community West Bancshares Stock Performance

NASDAQ CWBC opened at $23.20 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $629.42 million, a PE ratio of 10.74 and a beta of 0.82. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $23.38 and its 200-day simple moving average is $23.15. Community West Bancshares has a 1-year low of $17.50 and a 1-year high of $25.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.86.

Community West Bancshares (NASDAQ:CWBC) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.61 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.56 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $38.58 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $38.23 million. Community West Bancshares had a return on equity of 10.44% and a net margin of 20.77%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Community West Bancshares will post 2.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Community West Bancshares Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 22nd. Investors of record on Friday, May 8th will be given a dividend of $0.12 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 8th. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.1%. Community West Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 22.22%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Community West Bancshares

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CWBC. Systematic Financial Management LP increased its stake in Community West Bancshares by 34.1% during the fourth quarter. Systematic Financial Management LP now owns 411,859 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $9,267,000 after acquiring an additional 104,779 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its stake in Community West Bancshares by 85.5% during the fourth quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 167,008 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,758,000 after acquiring an additional 77,000 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP increased its stake in Community West Bancshares by 418.3% during the third quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 63,054 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,314,000 after acquiring an additional 50,889 shares during the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. increased its stake in Community West Bancshares by 159.1% during the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 70,984 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,654,000 after acquiring an additional 43,590 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Community West Bancshares by 4.7% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 840,454 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $19,582,000 after acquiring an additional 38,044 shares during the last quarter. 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.