Customers Bancorp (NYSE:CUBI) Board of Directors Authorizes Stock Repurchase Plan

Customers Bancorp (NYSE:CUBI) declared that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Wednesday, February 11th, RTT News reports. The company plans to buyback $100.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization allows the bank to buy up to 4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley started coverage on Customers Bancorp in a research note on Monday, December 8th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $90.00 price objective on the stock. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Customers Bancorp from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, January 25th. Maxim Group set a $100.00 price target on shares of Customers Bancorp in a report on Monday, January 26th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of Customers Bancorp from $76.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 27th. Finally, Hovde Group raised their target price on shares of Customers Bancorp from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $87.80.

Customers Bancorp Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:CUBI opened at $71.64 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.00. Customers Bancorp has a 52 week low of $40.75 and a 52 week high of $82.56. The firm has a market cap of $2.45 billion, a PE ratio of 11.55 and a beta of 1.65. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $75.86 and its 200-day moving average is $69.85.

Customers Bancorp (NYSE:CUBI) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 22nd. The bank reported $2.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.04 by $0.02. Customers Bancorp had a return on equity of 14.05% and a net margin of 15.15%.The business had revenue of $236.90 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $200.38 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.36 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Customers Bancorp will post 6.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Jay S. Sidhu sold 128,185 shares of Customers Bancorp stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.43, for a total transaction of $8,899,884.55. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 790,031 shares in the company, valued at $54,851,852.33. This trade represents a 13.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Philip Watkins sold 2,900 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.04, for a total value of $188,616.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 50,849 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,307,218.96. This represents a 5.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 138,564 shares of company stock valued at $9,612,479. 8.69% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

About Customers Bancorp

Customers Bancorp, Inc (NYSE: CUBI) is a bank holding company headquartered in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, and the parent of Customers Bank, a federally chartered institution. The company offers a full suite of commercial and consumer banking services, combining traditional deposit and lending products with modern digital banking platforms. As a publicly traded entity, Customers Bancorp focuses on delivering tailored financial solutions to mid‐market companies, small businesses, professionals and individuals across the United States.

Through its commercial banking division, the company provides term loans, lines of credit, real estate financing, asset‐based lending and treasury management services.