Customers Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE:CUBI) Short Interest Update

Customers Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE:CUBI - Get Free Report) saw a large increase in short interest during the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,980,000 shares, an increase of 5.9% from the March 15th total of 1,870,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 284,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 7.0 days. Approximately 6.8% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on CUBI. B. Riley raised their price objective on Customers Bancorp from $62.00 to $77.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, January 29th. Raymond James lifted their target price on Customers Bancorp from $65.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, January 29th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on Customers Bancorp from $61.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Finally, Wedbush cut their target price on Customers Bancorp from $70.00 to $65.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 26th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $61.86.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Glenn Hedde sold 666 shares of Customers Bancorp stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.20, for a total value of $36,097.20. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 69,428 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,762,997.60. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CFO Carla A. Leibold sold 35,832 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.15, for a total transaction of $1,904,470.80. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 41,224 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,191,055.60. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Glenn Hedde sold 666 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.20, for a total value of $36,097.20. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 69,428 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,762,997.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 9.40% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund increased its position in Customers Bancorp by 51.1% in the 4th quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 71,000 shares of the bank's stock valued at $4,091,000 after buying an additional 24,000 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in Customers Bancorp by 6.4% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 12,546 shares of the bank's stock valued at $723,000 after buying an additional 752 shares in the last quarter. Virtue Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Customers Bancorp in the 4th quarter valued at about $696,000. Hanseatic Management Services Inc. bought a new stake in Customers Bancorp in the 4th quarter valued at about $183,000. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc increased its position in Customers Bancorp by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 81,576 shares of the bank's stock valued at $4,700,000 after buying an additional 329 shares in the last quarter. 89.29% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Customers Bancorp Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE:CUBI traded down $0.30 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $46.32. The company's stock had a trading volume of 268,833 shares, compared to its average volume of 288,829. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.29 and a beta of 1.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 0.93. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $52.07 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $48.26. Customers Bancorp has a fifty-two week low of $15.80 and a fifty-two week high of $60.09.

Customers Bancorp (NYSE:CUBI - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 25th. The bank reported $1.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.76 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $191.18 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $187.87 million. Customers Bancorp had a return on equity of 18.75% and a net margin of 17.23%. As a group, analysts forecast that Customers Bancorp will post 6.87 earnings per share for the current year.

About Customers Bancorp

Customers Bancorp, Inc operates as the bank holding company for Customers Bank that provides financial products and services to individual consumers, and small and middle market businesses. The company provides deposit banking products, which includes commercial and consumer checking, non-interest-bearing and interest-bearing demand, MMDA, savings, and time deposit accounts.