Community West Bancshares (NASDAQ:CWBC) Announces $0.12 Quarterly Dividend

Community West Bancshares (NASDAQ:CWBC) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, July 17th, Zacks reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 2nd will be given a dividend of 0.12 per share by the financial services provider on Friday, August 16th. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.31%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 2nd.

Community West Bancshares has increased its dividend by an average of 31.2% annually over the last three years. Community West Bancshares has a dividend payout ratio of 17.9% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Community West Bancshares to earn $2.25 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.48 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 21.3%.

Community West Bancshares Trading Up 3.3 %

Shares of Community West Bancshares stock opened at $20.75 on Wednesday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $18.21 and its 200-day moving average price is $16.86. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. Community West Bancshares has a 12-month low of $13.55 and a 12-month high of $24.47. The company has a market cap of $391.55 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.98 and a beta of 0.88.

Insider Transactions at Community West Bancshares

In related news, EVP Anthony Kenneth Ramos acquired 13,400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 7th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $17.25 per share, with a total value of $231,150.00. Following the acquisition, the executive vice president now owns 22,381 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $386,072.25. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders have purchased 13,881 shares of company stock valued at $239,513 in the last quarter. Insiders own 11.15% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have issued reports on CWBC shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on shares of Community West Bancshares from $23.00 to $22.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on Community West Bancshares from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Community West Bancshares from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $20.33.

About Community West Bancshares

Community West Bancshares operates as the bank holding company for Community West Bank, N.A. that provides various financial products and services in California. The company offers deposit products, such as checking accounts, savings accounts, money market accounts, and fixed rate and fixed maturity certificates of deposits; and cash management products.