Raymond James Financial Inc. Makes New $2.54 Million Investment in Customers Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE:CUBI)

Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Customers Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE:CUBI - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 52,244 shares of the bank's stock, valued at approximately $2,543,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. owned 0.17% of Customers Bancorp at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Barclays PLC lifted its holdings in shares of Customers Bancorp by 46.9% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 89,879 shares of the bank's stock valued at $4,175,000 after buying an additional 28,683 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in Customers Bancorp by 3.4% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 62,515 shares of the bank's stock valued at $3,011,000 after acquiring an additional 2,060 shares during the last quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Customers Bancorp during the 4th quarter valued at $1,314,000. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its stake in shares of Customers Bancorp by 6.3% in the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 5,579 shares of the bank's stock valued at $272,000 after purchasing an additional 333 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC boosted its holdings in Customers Bancorp by 5.5% in the fourth quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 21,085 shares of the bank's stock worth $1,026,000 after purchasing an additional 1,108 shares in the last quarter. 89.29% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Customers Bancorp Stock Down 1.1 %

CUBI stock traded down $0.54 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $50.98. The company had a trading volume of 17,779 shares, compared to its average volume of 308,996. Customers Bancorp, Inc. has a 52 week low of $40.75 and a 52 week high of $68.49. The company has a market capitalization of $1.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.04 and a beta of 1.51. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $48.89 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $51.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.95.

Customers Bancorp (NYSE:CUBI - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The bank reported $1.54 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.28 by $0.26. The firm had revenue of $194.28 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $165.24 million. Customers Bancorp had a net margin of 13.07% and a return on equity of 12.29%. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.68 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Customers Bancorp, Inc. will post 6.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Jay S. Sidhu sold 67,000 shares of Customers Bancorp stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.82, for a total transaction of $3,806,940.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 965,723 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $54,872,380.86. The trade was a 6.49 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 6.92% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CUBI has been the topic of several recent research reports. Maxim Group raised their target price on Customers Bancorp from $75.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. DA Davidson increased their target price on Customers Bancorp from $68.00 to $71.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Stephens reissued an "equal weight" rating and set a $58.00 price objective on shares of Customers Bancorp in a report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on shares of Customers Bancorp from $67.00 to $65.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 28th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Customers Bancorp currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $63.80.

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.