Community West Bancshares (NASDAQ:CWBC) Sees Large Volume Increase – Still a Buy?

Community West Bancshares (NASDAQ:CWBC) saw unusually-high trading volume on Tuesday . Approximately 630,162 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 230% from the previous session’s volume of 191,126 shares.The stock last traded at $25.35 and had previously closed at $24.89.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CWBC has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Community West Bancshares in a research note on Friday, March 27th. DA Davidson restated a “buy” rating and issued a $29.00 target price on shares of Community West Bancshares in a research note on Tuesday, April 28th. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on Community West Bancshares from $30.00 to $30.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Community West Bancshares from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, May 17th. Finally, Zacks Research cut Community West Bancshares from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 16th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $28.17.

Community West Bancshares Stock Up 1.8%

The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $23.80 and a 200-day simple moving average of $23.44. The firm has a market cap of $687.58 million, a PE ratio of 11.73 and a beta of 0.82. 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 announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.56 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $38.58 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $38.23 million. Community West Bancshares had a return on equity of 10.44% and a net margin of 20.77%. Sell-side analysts predict that Community West Bancshares will post 2.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Community West Bancshares Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 22nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 8th were paid a dividend of $0.12 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 8th. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.9%. Community West Bancshares’s payout ratio is presently 22.22%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Systematic Financial Management LP increased its holdings in shares of Community West Bancshares by 34.1% in the 4th quarter. Systematic Financial Management LP now owns 411,859 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $9,267,000 after purchasing an additional 104,779 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its holdings in shares of Community West Bancshares by 85.5% in the 4th quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 167,008 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,758,000 after purchasing an additional 77,000 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Community West Bancshares by 418.3% in the 3rd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 63,054 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,314,000 after purchasing an additional 50,889 shares in the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. increased its holdings in shares of Community West Bancshares by 159.1% in the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 70,984 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,654,000 after purchasing an additional 43,590 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Community West Bancshares by 4.7% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 840,454 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $19,582,000 after purchasing an additional 38,044 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.