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

Community West Bancshares (NASDAQ:CWBC) saw unusually-strong trading volume on Tuesday . Approximately 630,162 shares traded hands during 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

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on CWBC shares. DA Davidson restated a “buy” rating and set a $29.00 target price on shares of Community West Bancshares in a report on Tuesday, April 28th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Community West Bancshares from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, May 17th. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on Community West Bancshares from $30.00 to $30.50 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Community West Bancshares in a report on Friday, March 27th. Finally, Zacks Research cut Community West Bancshares from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 16th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $28.17.

Community West Bancshares Trading Up 1.8%

The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $23.80 and a two-hundred 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.

Community West Bancshares (NASDAQ:CWBC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.61 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.56 by $0.05. Community West Bancshares had a return on equity of 10.44% and a net margin of 20.77%.The business had revenue of $38.58 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $38.23 million. Equities analysts forecast that Community West Bancshares will post 2.59 EPS for the current year.

Community West Bancshares Dividend Announcement

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. KERR FINANCIAL PLANNING Corp purchased a new position in shares of Community West Bancshares in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Community West Bancshares by 623.7% in the 3rd quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 1,983 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 1,709 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Community West Bancshares in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $46,000. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC lifted its stake in shares of Community West Bancshares by 75.5% in the 2nd quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 3,237 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $63,000 after purchasing an additional 1,393 shares during the period. Finally, Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Community West Bancshares by 2,945.9% in the 4th quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 3,381 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $76,000 after purchasing an additional 3,270 shares during the period. 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.