Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC) Position Reduced by HighTower Advisors LLC

HighTower Advisors LLC lowered its stake in Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC) by 2.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 10,418 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 272 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Preferred Bank were worth $900,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of PFBC. Advisors Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in Preferred Bank by 194.1% in the third quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,906 shares of the bank’s stock worth $153,000 after purchasing an additional 1,258 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Preferred Bank by 1.7% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 415,722 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $33,362,000 after buying an additional 7,086 shares in the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP lifted its holdings in Preferred Bank by 169.6% during the 3rd quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 8,102 shares of the bank’s stock worth $650,000 after buying an additional 5,097 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its position in shares of Preferred Bank by 4.2% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,674 shares of the bank’s stock worth $536,000 after acquiring an additional 271 shares in the last quarter. Finally, De Lisle Partners LLP grew its position in shares of Preferred Bank by 51.8% in the 3rd quarter. De Lisle Partners LLP now owns 41,034 shares of the bank’s stock worth $3,290,000 after acquiring an additional 14,000 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 72.77% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently issued reports on PFBC. Piper Sandler upped their price target on Preferred Bank from $101.00 to $111.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. DA Davidson raised their price target on shares of Preferred Bank from $98.00 to $101.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Stephens restated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $100.00 price target on shares of Preferred Bank in a research report on Thursday, January 30th.

Preferred Bank Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of Preferred Bank stock opened at $85.43 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.87 and a beta of 0.93. Preferred Bank has a twelve month low of $70.99 and a twelve month high of $99.78. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $87.17 and its 200-day simple moving average is $86.74.

Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 27th. The bank reported $2.25 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.42 by ($0.17). Preferred Bank had a return on equity of 17.80% and a net margin of 25.00%. Equities research analysts forecast that Preferred Bank will post 9.81 earnings per share for the current 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 given a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 7th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.51%. Preferred Bank’s dividend payout ratio 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.