Preferred Bank (PFBC) Stock Price, News & Analysis

Company Overview

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. It also provides real estate mortgage loans that are secured by retail, industrial, office, special purpose, and residential single and multi-family properties; real estate construction loans; commercial loans comprising lines of credit for working capital, term loans for capital expenditures, and commercial and stand-by letters of credit; and small business administration loans. In addition, the company offers trade finance services, including commercial and export letters of credit, import lines of credit, documentary collections, international wire transfers, acceptances/trust receipt financing products, export financing, and bills purchase programs. Further, it provides cash management services; and internet, mobile, and tablet banking services. The company operates through full-service branch offices in the California counties of Los Angeles, Orange and San Francisco; Flushing, New York; Houston suburb of Sugar Land, Texas; and a satellite office in Manhattan, New York. The company was incorporated in 1991 and is headquartered in Los Angeles, California.

Key Stats

• Today's Range: $82.55 to $84.29
• 50-Day Range: $75.32 to $85.98
• 52-Week Range: $71.43 to $99.78
• Volume: 90,642 shs
• Average Volume: 87,569 shs
• Market Capitalization: $1.21 billion
• P/E Ratio: 8.71
• Dividend Yield: 3.58%
• Price Target: $92.33
• Consensus Rating: Hold

Preferred Bank Stock Analysis - MarketRank™

Preferred Bank scored higher than 62% of companies evaluated by MarketBeat, and ranked 586th out of 931 stocks in the finance sector. Scores are calculated by averaging available category scores, with extra weight given to analysis and valuation.

Analyst's Opinion

• Score: 2.2 / 5
• Analyst Rating: Hold

Consensus Rating

Preferred Bank has received a consensus rating of Hold. The company's average rating score is 2.33, and is based on 1 buy rating, 2 hold ratings, and no sell ratings.

Amount of Analyst Coverage

Preferred Bank has only been the subject of 3 research reports in the past 90 days.

Earnings and Valuation

• Score: 1.9 / 5
• Proj. Earnings Growth: 3.98%

Earnings Growth

Earnings for Preferred Bank are expected to grow by 3.98% in the coming year, from $9.81 to $10.20 per share.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. the Market

The P/E ratio of Preferred Bank is 8.71, which means that it is trading at a less expensive P/E ratio than the market average P/E ratio of about 24.19.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. Sector

The P/E ratio of Preferred Bank is 8.71, which means that it is trading at a less expensive P/E ratio than the Finance sector average P/E ratio of about 22.30.

Price to Book Value per Share Ratio

Preferred Bank has a P/B Ratio of 1.59. P/B Ratios below 3 indicates that a company is reasonably valued with respect to its assets and liabilities.

Short Interest

• Score: 2.0 / 5
• Short Interest Level: Bearish

Percentage of Shares Shorted

8.14% of the float of Preferred Bank has been sold short.

Short Interest Ratio / Days to Cover

Preferred Bank has a short interest ratio ("days to cover") of 8.7.

Change versus previous month

Short interest in Preferred Bank has recently decreased by 4.76%, indicating that investor sentiment is improving.

Dividend

• Score: 4.2 / 5
• Dividend Strength: Strong

Dividend Leadership

Preferred Bank is a leading dividend payer. It pays a dividend yield of 3.61%, putting its dividend yield in the top 25% of dividend-paying stocks.

Dividend Growth

Preferred Bank has been increasing its dividend for 5 years.

Dividend Coverage

The dividend payout ratio of Preferred Bank is 31.85%. This payout ratio is at a healthy, sustainable level, below 75%.

Dividend Sustainability

Based on earnings estimates, Preferred Bank will have a dividend payout ratio of 29.41% next year. This indicates that Preferred Bank will be able to sustain or increase its dividend.

Sustainability and ESG

• Score: N/A
• Environmental Score: N/A

Percentage of Shares Shorted

8.14% of the float of Preferred Bank has been sold short.

Short Interest Ratio / Days to Cover

Preferred Bank has a short interest ratio ("days to cover") of 8.7.

Change versus previous month

Short interest in Preferred Bank has recently decreased by 4.76%, indicating that investor sentiment is improving.

News and Social Media

• Score: 2.8 / 5
• News Sentiment: 1.10

News Sentiment

Preferred Bank has a news sentiment score of 1.10. This score is calculated as an average of sentiment of articles about the company over the last seven days and ranges from 2 (good news) to -2 (bad news). This is a higher news sentiment than the 0.99 average news sentiment score of Finance companies.

News Coverage This Week

MarketBeat has tracked 10 news articles for Preferred Bank this week, compared to 4 articles on an average week.

Company Ownership

• Score: 1.7 / 5
• Insider Trading: N/A

Insider Buying vs. Insider Selling

In the past three months, Preferred Bank insiders have not sold or bought any company stock.

Percentage Held by Institutions

72.77% of the stock of Preferred Bank is held by institutions. High institutional ownership can be a signal of strong market trust in this company.

PFBC Stock Analysis - Frequently Asked Questions

How have PFBC shares performed this year?

Preferred Bank's stock was trading at $86.38 at the start of the year. Since then, PFBC stock has decreased by 2.9% and is now trading at $83.84.
View the best growth stocks for 2025 here.

How were Preferred Bank's earnings last quarter?

Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC) announced its quarterly earnings data 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 bank earned $65.96 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $70.78 million. Preferred Bank had a trailing twelve-month return on equity of 17.80% and a net margin of 25.00%.
Read the conference call transcript.

Is Preferred Bank doing a stock buyback?

Preferred Bank's Board of Directors authorized a stock buyback plan on Thursday, May 22nd 2025, which allows the company to repurchase $125,000,000 in outstanding shares, according to EventVestor. This means that the company could purchase up to 10.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Who are Preferred Bank's major shareholders?

Top institutional investors of Preferred Bank include T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. (7.96%), Vanguard Group Inc. (6.17%), Boston Partners (3.64%) and Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. (3.29%).

How do I buy shares of Preferred Bank?

Shares of PFBC stock can be purchased through any online brokerage account. Popular online brokerages with access to the U.S. stock market include Charles Schwab, E*TRADE, Fidelity, and Vanguard Brokerage Services.

What other stocks do shareholders of Preferred Bank own?

Based on aggregate information from My MarketBeat watchlists, some other companies that Preferred Bank investors own include NVIDIA (NVDA), Meta Platforms (META), Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), Netflix (NFLX), Broadcom (AVGO), JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) and Exxon Mobil (XOM).

Company Calendar

• Record date for 4/21 Dividend: 4/07/2025
• Ex-Dividend for 4/21 Dividend: 4/07/2025
• Dividend Payable: 4/21/2025
• Last Earnings: 4/25/2025
• Today: 5/31/2025
• Next Earnings (Estimated): 7/24/2025
• Fiscal Year End: 12/31/2025

Industry, Sector and Symbol

• Stock Exchange: NASDAQ
• Sector: Finance
• Industry: State commercial banks
• Sub-Industry: Regional Banks
• Current Symbol: NASDAQ:PFBC
• CIK: 1492165
• Web: www.preferredbank.com
• Phone: (213) 891-1188
• Fax: 213-622-5161
• Employees: 280
• Year Founded: 1991

Price Target and Rating

• Average Stock Price Target: $92.33
• High Stock Price Target: $96.00
• Low Stock Price Target: $90.00
• Potential Upside/Downside: +10.1%
• Consensus Rating: Hold
• Rating Score (0-4): 2.33
• Research Coverage: 3 Analysts

Profitability

• EPS (Most Recent Fiscal Year): $9.42
• Trailing P/E Ratio: 8.71
• Forward P/E Ratio: 8.55
• P/E Growth: N/A
• Net Income: $130.66 million
• Net Margins: 25.00%
• Pretax Margin: 35.21%
• Return on Equity: 17.80%
• Return on Assets: 1.91%

Debt

• Debt-to-Equity Ratio: 0.19
• Current Ratio: 1.08
• Quick Ratio: 1.08

Sales & Book Value

• Annual Sales: $279.05 million
• Price / Sales: 4.34
• Cash Flow: $10.34 per share
• Price / Cash Flow: 8.11
• Book Value: $52.89 per share
• Price / Book: 1.59

Miscellaneous

• Outstanding Shares: 14,430,000
• Free Float: N/A
• Market Cap: $1.21 billion
• Optionable: Optionable
• Beta: 0.69