Royce & Associates LP Raises Stake in Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC)

Royce & Associates LP boosted its holdings in Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC) by 4.7% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 24,823 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,117 shares during the quarter. Royce & Associates LP’s holdings in Preferred Bank were worth $2,144,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Preferred Bank by 0.4% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 592,566 shares of the bank’s stock worth $47,553,000 after buying an additional 2,339 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Preferred Bank by 4.5% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 434,590 shares of the bank’s stock worth $37,540,000 after acquiring an additional 18,868 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Preferred Bank by 3.6% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 352,597 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $28,300,000 after acquiring an additional 12,283 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in shares of Preferred Bank by 24.0% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 186,107 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $14,935,000 after purchasing an additional 35,979 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Preferred Bank by 4.3% during the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 70,530 shares of the bank’s stock worth $6,092,000 after purchasing an additional 2,884 shares in the last quarter. 72.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PFBC has been the topic of several analyst reports. DA Davidson lifted their price target on shares of Preferred Bank from $98.00 to $101.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Stephens reiterated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $100.00 price target on shares of Preferred Bank in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their price objective on Preferred Bank from $101.00 to $111.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st.

Preferred Bank Price Performance

Shares of PFBC stock opened at $83.94 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $1.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.72 and a beta of 0.93. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $87.05 and a two-hundred day moving average of $86.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 1.08. Preferred Bank has a 1-year low of $70.99 and a 1-year high of $99.78.

Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 27th. The bank reported $2.25 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.42 by ($0.17). Preferred Bank had a net margin of 25.00% and a return on equity of 17.80%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Preferred Bank will post 9.81 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Preferred Bank Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 21st. Investors of record on Monday, April 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 7th. Preferred Bank’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 31.15%.

About Preferred Bank

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.