Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC) Shares Sold by ProShare Advisors LLC

ProShare Advisors LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC - Free Report) by 6.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 85,781 shares of the bank's stock after selling 5,498 shares during the quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC owned 0.59% of Preferred Bank worth $7,410,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Preferred Bank by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,129,287 shares of the bank's stock worth $97,548,000 after purchasing an additional 5,114 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners lifted its stake in Preferred Bank by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 530,029 shares of the bank's stock worth $45,806,000 after purchasing an additional 12,907 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Preferred Bank by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 468,759 shares of the bank's stock worth $40,491,000 after purchasing an additional 1,443 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Preferred Bank by 4.5% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 434,590 shares of the bank's stock worth $37,540,000 after purchasing an additional 18,868 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Preferred Bank by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 360,025 shares of the bank's stock worth $31,105,000 after purchasing an additional 7,428 shares during the last quarter. 72.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on PFBC shares. Stephens restated an "equal weight" rating and set a $91.00 price objective on shares of Preferred Bank in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on Preferred Bank from $108.00 to $96.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. Finally, DA Davidson reduced their price objective on Preferred Bank from $95.00 to $90.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 28th.

Preferred Bank Stock Performance

PFBC stock traded up $0.58 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $83.08. The company had a trading volume of 87,410 shares, compared to its average volume of 87,447. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $1.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.63 and a beta of 0.69. Preferred Bank has a one year low of $71.43 and a one year high of $99.78. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $81.93 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $86.62.

Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Friday, April 25th. The bank reported $2.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates 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 net margin of 25.00% and a return on equity of 17.80%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.44 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Preferred Bank will post 9.81 EPS for the current year.

Preferred Bank Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 21st. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 7th were paid a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.61%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, April 7th. Preferred Bank's payout ratio is 31.85%.

Preferred Bank declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase plan on Thursday, May 22nd that allows the company to buyback $125.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the bank to purchase up to 10.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually a sign that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

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.