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

Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Customers Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE:CUBI) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor purchased 52,244 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $2,543,000.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in CUBI. Basswood Capital Management L.L.C. purchased a new position in Customers Bancorp in the 3rd quarter valued at about $26,000. R Squared Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Customers Bancorp in the fourth quarter worth about $42,000. KBC Group NV boosted its holdings in Customers Bancorp by 82.8% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,495 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $73,000 after purchasing an additional 677 shares during the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC grew its stake in Customers Bancorp by 143.4% during the 3rd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 1,633 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $76,000 after purchasing an additional 962 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Customers Bancorp by 323.5% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,643 shares of the bank’s stock worth $80,000 after purchasing an additional 1,255 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.29% of the company’s stock.

Customers Bancorp Stock Performance

NYSE:CUBI opened at $50.17 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.58 billion, a PE ratio of 9.88 and a beta of 1.74. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77. Customers Bancorp, Inc. has a 12-month low of $42.31 and a 12-month high of $68.49. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $53.59 and a 200 day moving average price of $50.95.

Customers Bancorp (NYSE:CUBI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The bank reported $1.36 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.21 by $0.15. Customers Bancorp had a return on equity of 12.29% and a net margin of 13.07%. Research analysts anticipate that Customers Bancorp, Inc. will post 6.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Jay S. Sidhu sold 33,173 shares of Customers Bancorp stock in a transaction on Friday, January 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.25, for a total transaction of $1,899,154.25. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,032,723 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $59,123,391.75. The trade was a 3.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Glenn Hedde sold 15,815 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.25, for a total value of $921,223.75. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 55,211 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,216,040.75. This trade represents a 22.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 115,988 shares of company stock valued at $6,627,318 over the last three months. 6.92% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on CUBI shares. Maxim Group lifted their price target on Customers Bancorp from $75.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Stephens reiterated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $58.00 price target on shares of Customers Bancorp in a report on Friday, January 24th. DA Davidson raised their price objective on Customers Bancorp from $68.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Customers Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, December 1st. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of Customers Bancorp from $62.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Six 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $64.00.

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.