Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC) Receives Average Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC) has received a consensus rating of “Hold” from the seven brokerages that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and two have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $102.00.

PFBC has been the subject of a number of research reports. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Preferred Bank from a “buy (b)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Friday, May 15th. Janney Montgomery Scott began coverage on shares of Preferred Bank in a report on Tuesday, February 24th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $100.00 price objective for the company. Brean Capital downgraded shares of Preferred Bank from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 24th. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of Preferred Bank from $105.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th.

Institutional Trading of Preferred Bank

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in PFBC. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in Preferred Bank by 1,224.0% in the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 331 shares of the bank’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 306 shares during the period. Quarry LP raised its position in Preferred Bank by 1,992.0% in the 3rd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 523 shares of the bank’s stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 498 shares during the period. Johnson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in Preferred Bank in the 3rd quarter worth $70,000. Kemnay Advisory Services Inc. bought a new stake in Preferred Bank in the 4th quarter worth $91,000. Finally, Clearstead Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Preferred Bank by 192.1% in the fourth quarter. Clearstead Advisors LLC now owns 1,072 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $101,000 after acquiring an additional 705 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.77% of the company’s stock.

Preferred Bank Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PFBC opened at $93.70 on Thursday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $93.40 and its 200-day moving average price is $93.02. Preferred Bank has a 1-year low of $79.60 and a 1-year high of $103.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.77 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45.

Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The bank reported $2.53 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.48 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $69.62 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $71.76 million. Preferred Bank had a net margin of 26.49% and a return on equity of 17.52%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Preferred Bank will post 10.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Preferred Bank Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 21st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 7th were given a dividend of $0.80 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, April 7th. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.4%. Preferred Bank’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 29.96%.

About Preferred Bank

Preferred Bank (NASDAQ: PFBC) is a California-chartered commercial bank headquartered in Los Angeles. The institution offers a full range of banking products and services to businesses and individuals, with a particular emphasis on commercial real estate lending, business banking, treasury management and deposit accounts. Preferred Bank operates through branch offices across Southern California and national loan production offices in major U.S. markets.

The bank’s core lending portfolio focuses on commercial real estate acquisition, development and investment properties.