KBC Group NV Buys 289 Shares of Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC)

KBC Group NV raised its stake in shares of Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC) by 46.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 914 shares of the bank’s stock after buying an additional 289 shares during the period. KBC Group NV’s holdings in Preferred Bank were worth $79,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management increased its stake in shares of Preferred Bank by 12.7% in the fourth quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 3,498 shares of the bank’s stock worth $302,000 after purchasing an additional 394 shares during the period. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC increased its stake in shares of Preferred Bank by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 16,272 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,406,000 after purchasing an additional 334 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its stake in shares of Preferred Bank by 59.6% in the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 5,845 shares of the bank’s stock worth $505,000 after purchasing an additional 2,183 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in shares of Preferred Bank by 24.0% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 186,107 shares of the bank’s stock worth $14,935,000 after purchasing an additional 35,979 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of 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 period. 72.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Preferred Bank Trading Down 2.3 %

Shares of PFBC opened at $91.00 on Monday. Preferred Bank has a 12-month low of $67.44 and a 12-month high of $99.78. The company has a quick ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.45 and a beta of 0.97. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $88.64 and its 200 day moving average price is $85.41.

Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The bank reported $2.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.42 by ($0.17). Preferred Bank had a net margin of 25.00% and a return on equity of 17.80%. As a group, research analysts predict that Preferred Bank will post 9.81 earnings per share for the current year.

Preferred Bank Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 23rd. Shareholders 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 yield of 3.30%. This is an increase from Preferred Bank’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. Preferred Bank’s payout ratio is presently 31.15%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on PFBC. DA Davidson lifted their price objective on Preferred Bank from $98.00 to $101.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Stephens reiterated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $100.00 price objective on shares of Preferred Bank in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their price target on Preferred Bank from $101.00 to $111.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st.

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.