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

Community West Bancshares (NASDAQ:CWBC) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, January 24th,Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 7th will be given a dividend of 0.12 per share by the financial services provider on Friday, February 21st. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 7th.

Community West Bancshares has increased its dividend by an average of 27.5% per year over the last three years. Community West Bancshares has a payout ratio of 21.4% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Community West Bancshares to earn $2.07 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 23.2%.

Community West Bancshares Price Performance

NASDAQ CWBC opened at $19.20 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.82. Community West Bancshares has a 1-year low of $15.50 and a 1-year high of $24.47. The stock has a market capitalization of $363.84 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.09 and a beta of 0.92. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $20.14 and its 200-day moving average price is $19.73.

Community West Bancshares (NASDAQ:CWBC) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.38 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.45 by ($0.07). Community West Bancshares had a net margin of 4.53% and a return on equity of 8.14%. On average, equities analysts predict that Community West Bancshares will post 1.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Community West Bancshares news, Director Robert Bartlein purchased 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 1st. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $18.75 per share, for a total transaction of $37,500.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 433,876 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,135,175. This trade represents a 0.46 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Steven D. Mcdonald sold 1,860 shares of Community West Bancshares stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.51, for a total transaction of $40,008.60. Following the sale, the director now owns 315,531 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,787,071.81. The trade was a 0.59 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have bought 2,432 shares of company stock worth $45,616. Company insiders own 11.15% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price on shares of Community West Bancshares from $24.00 to $22.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday.

Community West Bancshares Company Profile

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.