Community West Bancshares (NASDAQ:CWBC) Short Interest Up 27.5% in June

Community West Bancshares (NASDAQ:CWBC) saw a significant growth in short interest in the month of June. As of June 30th, there was short interest totalling 246,000 shares, a growth of 27.5% from the June 15th total of 192,900 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 59,400 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 4.1 days.

Community West Bancshares Stock Performance

NASDAQ:CWBC opened at $20.15 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $380.23 million, a PE ratio of 10.66 and a beta of 0.88. Community West Bancshares has a fifty-two week low of $13.55 and a fifty-two week high of $24.47. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $17.44 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $16.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.66.

Community West Bancshares (NASDAQ:CWBC) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The financial services provider reported $0.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.46 by ($0.15). Community West Bancshares had a return on equity of 11.29% and a net margin of 20.04%. The firm had revenue of $20.71 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $21.67 million. Research analysts anticipate that Community West Bancshares will post 1.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Community West Bancshares Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 17th. Investors of record on Friday, May 3rd were issued a $0.12 dividend. This is a boost from Community West Bancshares’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.38%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 2nd. Community West Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 25.40%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on CWBC shares. StockNews.com raised Community West Bancshares from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on Community West Bancshares from $23.00 to $22.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price objective on Community West Bancshares from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Community West Bancshares currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $20.33.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Community West Bancshares news, EVP Anthony Kenneth Ramos bought 13,400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 7th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $17.25 per share, for a total transaction of $231,150.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 22,381 shares in the company, valued at approximately $386,072.25. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Over the last quarter, insiders have purchased 14,881 shares of company stock worth $256,663. Company insiders own 11.15% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Community West Bancshares

A hedge fund recently raised its stake in Community West Bancshares stock. Black Maple Capital Management LP raised its stake in shares of Community West Bancshares (NASDAQ:CWBC) by 8.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 17,475 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,417 shares during the period. Black Maple Capital Management LP owned about 0.20% of Community West Bancshares worth $304,000 as of its most recent SEC filing. Institutional investors own 33.80% of the company’s stock.

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.