Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC) Declares $0.75 Quarterly Dividend

Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC - Get Free Report) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, June 20th, Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, July 8th will be paid a dividend of 0.75 per share by the bank on Tuesday, July 22nd. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.47%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, July 8th.

Preferred Bank has a dividend payout ratio of 30.6% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Preferred Bank to earn $10.20 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $3.00 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 29.4%.

Preferred Bank Price Performance

NASDAQ PFBC traded down $1.30 during trading on Friday, reaching $86.37. The company's stock had a trading volume of 301,394 shares, compared to its average volume of 89,484. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.25 billion, a PE ratio of 9.17 and a beta of 0.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 1.07. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $83.20 and a 200 day moving average of $84.87. Preferred Bank has a one year low of $71.90 and a one year high of $99.78.

Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 25th. The bank reported $2.23 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.33 by ($0.10). The firm had revenue of $65.96 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $70.78 million. Preferred Bank had a net margin of 24.87% and a return on equity of 16.88%. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.44 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Preferred Bank will post 9.81 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Preferred Bank

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of PFBC. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its position in Preferred Bank by 2.9% during the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 7,266 shares of the bank's stock worth $608,000 after acquiring an additional 202 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC grew its position in Preferred Bank by 19.1% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 25,931 shares of the bank's stock worth $2,169,000 after acquiring an additional 4,158 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jane Street Group LLC grew its position in Preferred Bank by 81.0% during the 1st quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 66,428 shares of the bank's stock worth $5,557,000 after acquiring an additional 29,729 shares during the last quarter. 72.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently commented on PFBC shares. 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 report on Monday, April 28th. Stephens reiterated an "equal weight" rating and set a $91.00 price objective on shares of Preferred Bank in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th. Finally, 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 report on Tuesday, April 29th.

Preferred Bank declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, May 22nd that permits the company to buyback $125.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the bank to repurchase up to 10.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally a sign that the company's management 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.