Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Cuts Stock Holdings in Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC)

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP reduced its stake in shares of Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC - Free Report) by 1.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 664,395 shares of the bank's stock after selling 9,848 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned about 4.60% of Preferred Bank worth $57,391,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Picton Mahoney Asset Management lifted its position in shares of Preferred Bank by 110.7% during the fourth quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management now owns 550 shares of the bank's stock worth $47,000 after acquiring an additional 289 shares in the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Preferred Bank by 217.5% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 562 shares of the bank's stock worth $49,000 after buying an additional 385 shares during the last quarter. R Squared Ltd purchased a new position in Preferred Bank in the 4th quarter worth $65,000. KBC Group NV boosted its holdings in Preferred Bank by 46.2% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 914 shares of the bank's stock valued at $79,000 after acquiring an additional 289 shares during the period. Finally, Virtu Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Preferred Bank in the fourth quarter worth approximately $203,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.77% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Preferred Bank Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ PFBC traded up $0.25 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $81.58. 16,878 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 84,049. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $81.81 and a 200 day moving average of $86.70. Preferred Bank has a 1 year low of $71.43 and a 1 year high of $99.78. The stock has a market cap of $1.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.48 and a beta of 0.69. The company has a quick ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19.

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 the consensus estimate of $2.33 by ($0.10). Preferred Bank had a net margin of 25.00% and a return on equity of 17.80%. The firm had revenue of $65.96 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $70.78 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.44 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Preferred Bank will post 9.81 earnings per share for the current year.

Preferred Bank Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 21st. Investors of record on Monday, April 7th were paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.68%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, April 7th. Preferred Bank's payout ratio is 31.85%.

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.