Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC) Shares Sold by Phocas Financial Corp.

Key Points

• Phocas Financial Corp. reduced its holdings in Preferred Bank by 5.5% during the first quarter, retaining a total of 127,522 shares.
• Preferred Bank reported $2.52 earnings per share for the last quarter, exceeding analysts’ estimates by $0.09, despite revenue falling short of expectations.
• The bank has initiated a $125 million stock repurchase program, indicating the board believes its shares are currently undervalued.

Phocas Financial Corp. decreased its stake in Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC - Free Report) by 5.5% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 127,522 shares of the bank's stock after selling 7,363 shares during the period. Preferred Bank accounts for approximately 1.6% of Phocas Financial Corp.'s holdings, making the stock its 7th largest position. Phocas Financial Corp. owned approximately 0.88% of Preferred Bank worth $10,668,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Preferred Bank by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,129,287 shares of the bank's stock valued at $97,548,000 after purchasing an additional 5,114 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Preferred Bank by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 468,759 shares of the bank's stock valued at $40,491,000 after buying an additional 1,443 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Preferred Bank by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 360,025 shares of the bank's stock valued at $31,105,000 after buying an additional 7,428 shares in the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC grew its stake in shares of Preferred Bank by 11.9% in the fourth quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 261,130 shares of the bank's stock valued at $22,815,000 after buying an additional 27,760 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in Preferred Bank by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 189,196 shares of the bank's stock worth $16,343,000 after buying an additional 3,089 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.77% of the company's stock.

Preferred Bank Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PFBC traded down $0.45 on Wednesday, hitting $90.60. The company had a trading volume of 15,228 shares, compared to its average volume of 98,752. The stock has a market cap of $1.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.58 and a beta of 0.75. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $88.15 and a 200 day moving average price of $85.75. Preferred Bank has a 1-year low of $71.90 and a 1-year high of $99.78. The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47.

Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Monday, July 21st. The bank reported $2.52 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.43 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $69.05 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $70.96 million. Preferred Bank had a net margin of 25.04% and a return on equity of 16.64%. Analysts expect that Preferred Bank will post 9.81 EPS for the current year.

Preferred Bank announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback plan on Thursday, May 22nd that permits the company to repurchase $125.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the bank to purchase up to 10.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often a sign that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Preferred Bank Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 22nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, July 8th were issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, July 8th. Preferred Bank's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 31.71%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PFBC has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Stephens reissued an "equal weight" rating and issued a $91.00 price objective on shares of Preferred Bank in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th. DA Davidson boosted their price target on Preferred Bank from $90.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price objective on Preferred Bank from $96.00 to $112.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd.

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.