CVB Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:CVBF) Short Interest Down 12.6% in February

CVB Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:CVBF) saw a significant decline in short interest in February. As of February 15th, there was short interest totalling 3,040,000 shares, a decline of 12.6% from the January 31st total of 3,480,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 805,100 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.8 days. Currently, 2.3% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Institutional Trading of CVB Financial

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC bought a new stake in shares of CVB Financial during the third quarter worth $27,000. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in CVB Financial by 80.0% in the fourth quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 1,620 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 720 shares during the period. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. acquired a new stake in CVB Financial in the fourth quarter valued at $53,000. Sterling Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in CVB Financial by 815.6% in the fourth quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 4,175 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $89,000 after purchasing an additional 3,719 shares during the period. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in CVB Financial by 144.9% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 4,389 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $95,000 after purchasing an additional 2,597 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 74.18% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on CVBF. Stephens decreased their price objective on shares of CVB Financial from $25.00 to $23.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on shares of CVB Financial from $23.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $22.20.

CVB Financial Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:CVBF opened at $19.44 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $20.44 and its 200 day simple moving average is $20.22. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.50 and a beta of 0.46. CVB Financial has a 1 year low of $15.71 and a 1 year high of $24.58.

CVB Financial (NASDAQ:CVBF) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The financial services provider reported $0.36 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.02. CVB Financial had a net margin of 29.32% and a return on equity of 9.35%. As a group, analysts anticipate that CVB Financial will post 1.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CVB Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.12%. CVB Financial’s payout ratio is presently 55.56%.

About CVB Financial

CVB Financial Corp. operates as a bank holding company for Citizens Business Bank, a state-chartered bank that provides banking and financial services to small to mid-sized businesses and individuals. It offers checking, savings, money market, and time certificates of deposit products for business and personal accounts; and serves as a federal tax depository for business customers.