Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC) Shares Sold by Louisiana State Employees Retirement System

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System lessened its position in shares of Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC) by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,000 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 200 shares during the period. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Preferred Bank were worth $482,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its holdings in Preferred Bank by 78.3% during the 1st quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 15,564 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,195,000 after acquiring an additional 6,833 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management acquired a new position in shares of Preferred Bank in the 1st quarter valued at $5,951,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Preferred Bank by 1.3% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 868,073 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $66,642,000 after buying an additional 10,931 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new position in shares of Preferred Bank in the 3rd quarter valued at $294,000. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Preferred Bank by 6.2% in the 1st quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 15,637 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,200,000 after buying an additional 919 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.77% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Preferred Bank Stock Up 2.0 %

PFBC stock opened at $84.83 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $81.43 and a 200 day moving average price of $79.01. Preferred Bank has a 12 month low of $59.96 and a 12 month high of $91.67. The company has a market cap of $1.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.50 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The bank reported $2.46 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.39 by $0.07. Preferred Bank had a net margin of 26.20% and a return on equity of 19.01%. The firm had revenue of $132.88 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $68.80 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.71 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Preferred Bank will post 9.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Preferred Bank Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, October 21st. Investors of record on Monday, October 7th were given a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, October 7th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.30%. Preferred Bank’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.