Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC) Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.75

Key Points

• Preferred Bank announced a quarterly dividend of $0.75 per share, payable on October 21st to stockholders of record as of October 7th, representing a 3.3% dividend yield.
• The bank reported $2.52 earnings per share for the last quarter, exceeding analysts' estimates and demonstrating a healthy return on equity of 16.64%.
• Institutional investors hold 72.77% of the company's stock, with large investments made by firms such as Nuveen LLC and American Century Companies Inc. in the recent quarter.

Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC - Get Free Report) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, September 16th, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 7th will be paid a dividend of 0.75 per share by the bank on Tuesday, October 21st. This represents a c) dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, October 7th.

Preferred Bank has a dividend payout ratio of 30.6% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities 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 Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PFBC traded down $1.44 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $93.56. 345,790 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 67,732. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.89 and a beta of 0.78. Preferred Bank has a one year low of $71.90 and a one year high of $99.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a current ratio of 1.07. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $93.16 and a two-hundred day moving average of $86.75.

Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 21st. The bank reported $2.52 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.43 by $0.09. Preferred Bank had a return on equity of 16.64% and a net margin of 25.04%.The company had revenue of $69.05 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $70.96 million. On average, equities analysts forecast that Preferred Bank will post 9.81 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Preferred Bank

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in PFBC. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Preferred Bank during the 1st quarter valued at about $33,915,000. American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in shares of Preferred Bank by 28.8% during the 1st quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 257,062 shares of the bank's stock valued at $21,506,000 after buying an additional 57,434 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Preferred Bank by 9.3% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 475,025 shares of the bank's stock valued at $39,741,000 after buying an additional 40,435 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in Preferred Bank by 9,482.9% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 36,894 shares of the bank's stock worth $3,087,000 after purchasing an additional 36,509 shares during the period. Finally, Millennium Management LLC raised its position in Preferred Bank by 28.8% in the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 147,702 shares of the bank's stock worth $12,758,000 after purchasing an additional 32,990 shares during the period. 72.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.