Community West Bancshares (NASDAQ:CWBC) Reaches New 12-Month High – Time to Buy?

Community West Bancshares (NASDAQ:CWBC)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $25.99 and last traded at $25.36, with a volume of 447170 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $25.75.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have weighed in on CWBC shares. Zacks Research cut Community West Bancshares from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 16th. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $29.00 price objective on shares of Community West Bancshares in a research report on Tuesday, April 28th. Piper Sandler lifted 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 raised Community West Bancshares from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, May 17th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Community West Bancshares in a research report on Friday, March 27th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $28.17.

Community West Bancshares Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 0.86. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $24.04 and a 200 day moving average price of $23.57. The stock has a market capitalization of $688.02 million, a P/E ratio of 11.74 and a beta of 0.82.

Community West Bancshares (NASDAQ:CWBC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.61 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 firm had revenue of $38.58 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $38.23 million. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Community West Bancshares will post 2.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Community West Bancshares Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 22nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 8th were given 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 of this dividend was Friday, May 8th. Community West Bancshares’s payout ratio is currently 22.22%.

Institutional Trading of Community West Bancshares

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. KERR FINANCIAL PLANNING Corp purchased a new position in Community West Bancshares in the 1st quarter worth approximately $38,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its holdings in 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 worth $41,000 after acquiring an additional 1,709 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Community West Bancshares in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $46,000. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC raised its holdings in 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 worth $63,000 after acquiring an additional 1,393 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its holdings in 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 worth $76,000 after acquiring an additional 3,270 shares during the last quarter. 33.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.