GSA Capital Partners LLP Boosts Stake in Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC)

GSA Capital Partners LLP increased its position in Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC) by 62.5% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 31,726 shares of the bank’s stock after buying an additional 12,197 shares during the period. GSA Capital Partners LLP’s holdings in Preferred Bank were worth $2,546,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in PFBC. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Preferred Bank in the first quarter worth about $786,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its position in Preferred Bank by 78.3% during the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 15,564 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,195,000 after purchasing an additional 6,833 shares during the period. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp raised its position in Preferred Bank by 1.6% during the first quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 10,964 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $842,000 after purchasing an additional 169 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in Preferred Bank during the first quarter valued at approximately $118,000. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its position in Preferred Bank by 6.2% during the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 15,637 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,200,000 after purchasing an additional 919 shares during the period. 72.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on PFBC. Stephens upped their price objective on Preferred Bank from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on Preferred Bank from $88.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th.

Preferred Bank Trading Up 3.0 %

PFBC stock opened at $96.21 on Tuesday. Preferred Bank has a 12 month low of $60.20 and a 12 month high of $97.21. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $82.12 and its 200 day moving average is $79.38. The company has a market capitalization of $1.39 billion, a PE ratio of 9.64 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 1.08.

Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC) last issued its earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The bank reported $2.46 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.39 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $132.88 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $68.80 million. Preferred Bank had a net margin of 26.20% and a return on equity of 19.01%. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.71 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Preferred Bank will post 9.75 EPS for the current year.

Preferred Bank Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, October 21st. Shareholders of record on Monday, October 7th were issued a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.91%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, October 7th. Preferred Bank’s dividend payout ratio is 28.06%.

Preferred Bank Profile

Preferred Bank provides various commercial banking products and services to small and mid-sized businesses and their owners, entrepreneurs, real estate developers and investors, professionals, and high net worth individuals. The company accepts checking, savings, and money market deposit accounts; fixed-rate and fixed maturity retail, and non-retail certificates of deposit; and individual retirement accounts.