Short Interest in CVB Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:CVBF) Increases By 51.2%

CVB Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:CVBF) was the target of a large growth in short interest in December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 6,380,000 shares, a growth of 51.2% from the December 15th total of 4,220,000 shares. Approximately 4.9% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 815,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 7.8 days.

CVB Financial Trading Up 0.8 %

CVBF stock traded up $0.16 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $20.53. 766,875 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 818,252. CVB Financial has a 1-year low of $15.71 and a 1-year high of $24.58. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $22.20 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $19.63. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.87 billion, a PE ratio of 14.36 and a beta of 0.50.

CVB Financial (NASDAQ:CVBF) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.37 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.35 by $0.02. CVB Financial had a net margin of 28.29% and a return on equity of 9.80%. The firm had revenue of $126.45 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $126.75 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.42 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that CVB Financial will post 1.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CVB Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.90%. CVB Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 55.94%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in CVB Financial by 16.9% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,649,691 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $97,399,000 after buying an additional 816,176 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP purchased a new position in CVB Financial in the third quarter valued at $8,653,000. Jacobs Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in CVB Financial during the 3rd quarter worth $4,455,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in CVB Financial by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,952,354 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $88,251,000 after purchasing an additional 181,769 shares during the period. Finally, Barclays PLC raised its position in CVB Financial by 79.5% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 291,011 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,186,000 after purchasing an additional 128,869 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.18% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently commented on CVBF shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on CVB Financial from $23.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Wedbush reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $20.00 target price on shares of CVB Financial in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Piper Sandler lowered their price target on shares of CVB Financial from $25.00 to $23.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, CVB Financial currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $21.80.

About CVB Financial

CVB Financial Corp. operates as a bank holding company for Citizens Business Bank, a state-chartered bank that provides banking and financial services to small to mid-sized businesses and individuals. It offers checking, savings, money market, and time certificates of deposit products for business and personal accounts; and serves as a federal tax depository for business customers.