D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. Cuts Stock Position in Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC)

D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. lowered its holdings in Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC - Free Report) by 58.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,574 shares of the bank's stock after selling 3,596 shares during the period. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc.'s holdings in Preferred Bank were worth $222,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Jump Financial LLC increased its holdings in Preferred Bank by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 9,148 shares of the bank's stock worth $790,000 after acquiring an additional 185 shares during the period. KBC Group NV increased its holdings in shares of Preferred Bank by 46.2% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 914 shares of the bank's stock worth $79,000 after buying an additional 289 shares during the last quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management increased its holdings in shares of Preferred Bank by 110.7% in the 4th quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management now owns 550 shares of the bank's stock worth $47,000 after buying an additional 289 shares during the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC increased its holdings in shares of Preferred Bank by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 16,272 shares of the bank's stock worth $1,406,000 after buying an additional 334 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sterling Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Preferred Bank by 7.3% in the 4th quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 5,219 shares of the bank's stock worth $451,000 after buying an additional 354 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 72.77% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on PFBC shares. DA Davidson decreased their price target on shares of Preferred Bank from $95.00 to $90.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 28th. Piper Sandler decreased their price target on shares of Preferred Bank from $108.00 to $96.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. Finally, Stephens reissued an "equal weight" rating and issued a $91.00 price target on shares of Preferred Bank in a report on Tuesday, April 29th.

Preferred Bank Trading Up 0.4%

NASDAQ:PFBC traded up $0.31 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $83.84. 62,362 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 87,424. Preferred Bank has a 12-month low of $71.43 and a 12-month high of $99.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 1.08. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $81.91 and a 200-day moving average price of $86.48. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.71 and a beta of 0.69.

Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 25th. The bank reported $2.23 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.33 by ($0.10). The company had revenue of $65.96 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $70.78 million. Preferred Bank had a return on equity of 17.80% and a net margin of 25.00%. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.44 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Preferred Bank will post 9.81 earnings per share for the current year.

Preferred Bank declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Thursday, May 22nd that permits the company to buyback $125.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the bank to buy up to 10.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often a sign that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Preferred Bank Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 21st. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 7th were given a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, April 7th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.58%. Preferred Bank's payout ratio is 31.85%.

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.