Vanguard Group Inc. Purchases 8,074 Shares of Preferred Bank $PFBC

Key Points

• Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Preferred Bank by acquiring 8,074 shares, bringing its total ownership to approximately 890,350 shares worth $74.5 million.
• Preferred Bank reported a quarterly EPS of $2.52, exceeding analysts' expectations of $2.43, though its revenue slightly fell short of estimates at $69.05 million.
• The bank's Board of Directors announced a stock repurchase plan to buy back up to $125 million in shares, highlighting management's confidence in its stock value.

Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC - Free Report) by 0.9% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 890,350 shares of the bank's stock after purchasing an additional 8,074 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned 6.17% of Preferred Bank worth $74,487,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. NBC Securities Inc. purchased a new position in Preferred Bank in the 1st quarter worth $25,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Preferred Bank in the first quarter valued at about $55,000. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main purchased a new position in shares of Preferred Bank in the fourth quarter valued at about $117,000. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Preferred Bank in the fourth quarter valued at about $209,000. Finally, CWM LLC increased its position in shares of Preferred Bank by 10.7% in the first quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,779 shares of the bank's stock valued at $232,000 after acquiring an additional 269 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.77% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on PFBC shares. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of Preferred Bank from $96.00 to $112.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. DA Davidson boosted their price objective on shares of Preferred Bank from $90.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $103.67.

Preferred Bank Stock Down 0.9%

PFBC traded down $0.91 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $94.40. The company's stock had a trading volume of 15,683 shares, compared to its average volume of 96,496. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.98 and a beta of 0.75. 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 has a 1 year low of $71.90 and a 1 year high of $99.78. The stock's 50-day moving average is $91.12 and its 200-day moving average is $86.13.

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

Preferred Bank Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 22nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, July 8th were issued a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.2%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, July 8th. Preferred Bank's dividend payout ratio is 31.71%.

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

Preferred Bank 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.