Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC) Receives “Equal Weight” Rating from Stephens

Stephens reiterated their equal weight rating on shares of Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC) in a research report released on Thursday,Benzinga reports. Stephens currently has a $100.00 price target on the bank’s stock.

Separately, DA Davidson raised their price objective on shares of Preferred Bank from $98.00 to $101.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday.

Preferred Bank Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PFBC opened at $91.36 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $89.08 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $85.19. Preferred Bank has a twelve month low of $66.88 and a twelve month high of $99.78. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.49 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a quick ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19.

Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC) last posted 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 return on equity of 17.80% and a net margin of 25.00%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Preferred Bank will post 9.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Preferred Bank Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, January 9th were issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.28%. This is a boost from Preferred Bank’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. Preferred Bank’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 31.15%.

Institutional Trading of Preferred Bank

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. 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 worth $14,935,000 after acquiring an additional 35,979 shares in the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC raised its position in Preferred Bank by 43.8% in the 3rd quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 19,879 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,595,000 after purchasing an additional 6,056 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Preferred Bank by 3.6% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 352,597 shares of the bank’s stock worth $28,300,000 after purchasing an additional 12,283 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in Preferred Bank during the third quarter valued at about $294,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of 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 during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.77% of the company’s stock.

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.