Preferred Bank $PFBC Shares Bought by Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH

Key Points

• Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH increased its stake by 675.6% in Preferred Bank during Q4, buying an additional 21,269 shares to own 24,417 shares worth about $2.395 million (≈0.17% of the company).
• Analyst views are mixed: Piper Sandler raised its price target to $111 with an "overweight" rating, but the consensus across analysts is a "Hold" with an average target of $102 (three Buys vs. four Holds).
• Preferred Bank slightly beat EPS expectations ($2.53 vs. $2.48), trades at a PE of 8.94 with a $1.38B market cap, and pays a quarterly dividend of $0.80 (a 3.4% yield and ~30% payout ratio).

Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH raised its position in Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC - Free Report) by 675.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 24,417 shares of the bank's stock after purchasing an additional 21,269 shares during the quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH owned about 0.17% of Preferred Bank worth $2,395,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management increased its stake in shares of Preferred Bank by 12.2% in the fourth quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 6,582 shares of the bank's stock valued at $622,000 after purchasing an additional 717 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its stake in shares of Preferred Bank by 11.7% in the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 5,927 shares of the bank's stock valued at $569,000 after purchasing an additional 619 shares during the period. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Preferred Bank by 7.8% in the fourth quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 13,674 shares of the bank's stock valued at $1,291,000 after purchasing an additional 991 shares during the period. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL increased its stake in shares of Preferred Bank by 65.0% in the third quarter. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL now owns 27,921 shares of the bank's stock valued at $2,524,000 after purchasing an additional 10,998 shares during the period. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Preferred Bank by 163.2% in the third quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 3,464 shares of the bank's stock valued at $313,000 after purchasing an additional 2,148 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.77% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have commented on PFBC. Piper Sandler raised their price target on shares of Preferred Bank from $105.00 to $111.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday. Brean Capital cut shares of Preferred Bank from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 24th. Stephens reiterated a "positive" rating on shares of Preferred Bank in a report on Monday, January 26th. Finally, 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. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $102.00.

Preferred Bank Trading Up 0.8%

Preferred Bank stock opened at $95.47 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $91.34 and a 200-day simple moving average of $92.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 1.06. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.38 billion, a PE ratio of 8.94 and a beta of 0.57. Preferred Bank has a 12-month low of $79.60 and a 12-month high of $103.05.

Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 22nd. The bank reported $2.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.48 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $69.62 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $71.76 million. Preferred Bank had a net margin of 26.49% and a return on equity of 17.52%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Preferred Bank will post 10.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Preferred Bank Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 21st. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 7th were issued a dividend of $0.80 per share. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.4%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, April 7th. Preferred Bank's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.96%.

Preferred Bank Profile

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.

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