Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management Has $302,000 Position in Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC)

Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management grew its stake in shares of Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC) by 12.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,498 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 394 shares during the period. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management’s holdings in Preferred Bank were worth $302,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in Preferred Bank by 24.0% in 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 in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Preferred Bank by 24.7% in the 2nd 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 grew its stake 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 valued at $3,290,000 after buying an additional 14,000 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Preferred Bank by 3.6% during 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. Finally, GSA Capital Partners LLP raised its position in Preferred Bank by 62.5% during the third quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 31,726 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,546,000 after acquiring an additional 12,197 shares in the last quarter. 72.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently commented on the stock. DA Davidson increased 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. Stephens restated an “equal weight” rating and set a $100.00 target price on shares of Preferred Bank in a report on Thursday.

Preferred Bank Trading Down 0.6 %

NASDAQ:PFBC opened at $90.38 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $89.23 and its 200-day moving average is $85.06. The company has a quick ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. Preferred Bank has a 12 month low of $66.88 and a 12 month high of $99.78. The firm has a market cap of $1.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.06 and a beta of 0.97.

Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The bank reported $2.25 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.42 by ($0.17). Preferred Bank had a return on equity of 19.01% and a net margin of 26.20%. Equities analysts anticipate that Preferred Bank will post 9.79 EPS for the current year.

Preferred Bank Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, January 9th were paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.32%. This is a positive change from Preferred Bank’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 10th. Preferred Bank’s payout ratio is currently 30.06%.

Preferred Bank Company 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.