CVB Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:CVBF) Short Interest Up 32.7% in March

CVB Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:CVBF) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totaling 11,687,411 shares, a growth of 32.7% from the March 15th total of 8,810,665 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 1,638,974 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 7.1 days. Approximately 9.2% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

CVB Financial Price Performance

CVBF traded down $0.22 during trading on Thursday, reaching $20.10. 1,740,198 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,399,743. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $19.78 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $19.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 0.72 and a quick ratio of 0.72. The company has a market capitalization of $2.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.40 and a beta of 0.65. CVB Financial has a 1 year low of $17.45 and a 1 year high of $21.48.

CVB Financial (NASDAQ:CVBF) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 22nd. The financial services provider reported $0.40 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40. The company had revenue of $133.85 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $135.45 million. CVB Financial had a return on equity of 9.25% and a net margin of 32.28%.During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.36 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that CVB Financial will post 1.41 earnings per share for the current year.

CVB Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 1st were given a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.0%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, April 1st. CVB Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 53.33%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CVBF has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. DA Davidson boosted their target price on CVB Financial from $21.00 to $22.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 19th. Weiss Ratings upgraded CVB Financial from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Friday, April 10th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $24.17.

Institutional Trading of CVB Financial

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Salomon & Ludwin LLC purchased a new stake in shares of CVB Financial in the third quarter valued at $25,000. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd lifted its position in shares of CVB Financial by 8,940.9% in the fourth quarter. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd now owns 1,989 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 1,967 shares in the last quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of CVB Financial in the fourth quarter valued at $42,000. Larson Financial Group LLC lifted its position in shares of CVB Financial by 288.9% in the fourth quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 2,411 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $45,000 after acquiring an additional 1,791 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hantz Financial Services Inc. lifted its position in shares of CVB Financial by 394.6% in the third quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 3,497 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $66,000 after acquiring an additional 2,790 shares in the last quarter. 74.18% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About CVB Financial

CVB Financial Corp is the bank holding company for Citizens Business Bank, a California-based commercial bank whose operations trace back to 1974. Headquartered in Ontario, California, the company provides a broad range of banking and financial services through its community-focused branch network. As a publicly traded company on the NASDAQ under the symbol CVBF, CVB Financial oversees strategic planning, corporate governance and long-term growth initiatives for its subsidiary.

The company’s core business activities include commercial lending, real estate financing, equipment leasing and Small Business Administration (SBA) loan programs.