3,387 Shares in Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC) Purchased by Benjamin Edwards Inc.

Benjamin Edwards Inc. purchased a new stake in Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC) in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 3,387 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $272,000.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. LSV Asset Management increased its stake in shares of Preferred Bank by 121.0% in the 2nd quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 171,330 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $12,934,000 after purchasing an additional 93,815 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Preferred Bank by 24.7% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 77,745 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $5,869,000 after buying an additional 15,391 shares in the last quarter. De Lisle Partners LLP raised its stake in shares of Preferred Bank by 51.8% during the 3rd quarter. De Lisle Partners LLP now owns 41,034 shares of the bank’s stock worth $3,290,000 after buying an additional 14,000 shares during the period. GSA Capital Partners LLP raised its stake in shares of Preferred Bank by 62.5% during the 3rd quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 31,726 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,546,000 after buying an additional 12,197 shares during the period. Finally, Inspire Investing LLC purchased a new position in shares of Preferred Bank during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $791,000. 72.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Stephens lowered shares of Preferred Bank from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday.

Preferred Bank Trading Down 0.0 %

Shares of Preferred Bank stock opened at $93.09 on Wednesday. Preferred Bank has a twelve month low of $66.63 and a twelve month high of $99.78. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $88.51 and its 200 day moving average price is $81.90. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.34 billion, a PE ratio of 9.33 and a beta of 0.96.

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

Preferred Bank Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, October 21st. Stockholders of record on Monday, October 7th were given a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.01%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, October 7th. Preferred Bank’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 28.06%.

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.