Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd Purchases 9,546 Shares of Preferred Bank $PFBC

Key Points

• Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd increased its Preferred Bank stake by 86.8% in the first quarter, buying 9,546 additional shares and bringing its total holding to 20,539 shares worth about $1.86 million.
• Institutional ownership in Preferred Bank (NASDAQ: PFBC) remains high at 72.77%, and several other investors also recently boosted or initiated positions in the stock.
• Analysts are mixed on PFBC, with a consensus rating of Hold and a $102 price target, while the bank recently beat EPS estimates and announced a quarterly dividend of $0.80 per share for a 3.0% annualized yield.

Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd grew its position in Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC - Free Report) by 86.8% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 20,539 shares of the bank's stock after purchasing an additional 9,546 shares during the quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd owned about 0.14% of Preferred Bank worth $1,863,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Preferred Bank by 1,224.0% in the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 331 shares of the bank's stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 306 shares during the period. Quarry LP lifted its holdings in shares of Preferred Bank by 1,992.0% during the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 523 shares of the bank's stock worth $47,000 after buying an additional 498 shares in the last quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Preferred Bank during the third quarter worth $70,000. Kemnay Advisory Services Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Preferred Bank in the fourth quarter valued at about $91,000. Finally, Clearstead Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Preferred Bank by 192.1% in the fourth quarter. Clearstead Advisors LLC now owns 1,072 shares of the bank's stock valued at $101,000 after acquiring an additional 705 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 72.77% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have issued reports on PFBC. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Preferred Bank from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a report on Monday, June 8th. Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of Preferred Bank from $105.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Preferred Bank currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $102.00.

Preferred Bank Stock Up 1.7%

PFBC stock opened at $104.96 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.83 and a beta of 0.55. The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. Preferred Bank has a 12 month low of $81.50 and a 12 month high of $112.26. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $98.32 and a 200-day moving average price of $94.29.

Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 company had revenue of $69.62 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 anticipate that Preferred Bank will post 10.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Preferred Bank Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 21st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, July 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.80 per share. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, July 7th. Preferred Bank's payout ratio is presently 29.96%.

About Preferred Bank

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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