Customers Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE:CUBI) Short Interest Up 5.5% in September

Customers Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE:CUBI) saw a significant increase in short interest in the month of September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totalling 2,880,000 shares, an increase of 5.5% from the September 15th total of 2,730,000 shares. Currently, 9.9% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 459,100 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 6.3 days.

Customers Bancorp Price Performance

CUBI stock traded down $0.11 during trading on Thursday, reaching $47.94. 350,764 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 360,385. Customers Bancorp has a 52-week low of $31.16 and a 52-week high of $68.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 0.93. The company has a market cap of $1.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.70 and a beta of 1.61. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $47.62 and its 200 day moving average price is $49.26.

Customers Bancorp (NYSE:CUBI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The bank reported $1.49 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.43 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $198.69 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $184.40 million. Customers Bancorp had a return on equity of 17.09% and a net margin of 17.38%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.65 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Customers Bancorp will post 6.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Customers Bancorp

In related news, CEO Samvir S. Sidhu acquired 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 13th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $45.53 per share, with a total value of $113,825.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 144,504 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,579,267.12. The trade was a 0.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 6.92% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Ridgewood Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Customers Bancorp during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $48,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in Customers Bancorp by 21.7% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,580 shares of the bank’s stock worth $73,000 after buying an additional 282 shares in the last quarter. Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new position in Customers Bancorp during the second quarter worth $74,000. CWM LLC raised its holdings in shares of Customers Bancorp by 14.2% in the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,198 shares of the bank’s stock worth $102,000 after acquiring an additional 274 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Customers Bancorp in the second quarter valued at $151,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.29% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on CUBI shares. DA Davidson increased their price target on Customers Bancorp from $71.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. B. Riley lifted their target price on shares of Customers Bancorp from $77.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. Wedbush lowered shares of Customers Bancorp from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $79.00 to $53.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on shares of Customers Bancorp from $76.00 to $63.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Finally, Raymond James dropped their target price on Customers Bancorp from $80.00 to $70.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $62.00.

About Customers Bancorp

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.