Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC) Earns "Equal Weight" Rating from Stephens

Stephens reiterated their equal weight rating on shares of Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC - Free Report) in a research report released on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $91.00 price objective on the bank's stock.

PFBC has been the topic of several other reports. DA Davidson dropped their price target on shares of Preferred Bank from $95.00 to $90.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on shares of Preferred Bank from $108.00 to $96.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday.

Preferred Bank Price Performance

Preferred Bank stock traded up $1.96 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $82.38. 96,737 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 84,030. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $82.04 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $86.72. The firm has a market cap of $1.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.55 and a beta of 0.71. Preferred Bank has a 1-year low of $71.43 and a 1-year high of $99.78. 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 released its earnings results on Friday, April 25th. The bank reported $2.23 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $2.33 by ($0.10). The firm had revenue of $65.96 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $70.78 million. Preferred Bank had a return on equity of 17.80% and a net margin of 25.00%. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.44 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Preferred Bank will post 9.81 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Preferred Bank Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 21st. Investors of record on Monday, April 7th were paid a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, April 7th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.64%. Preferred Bank's dividend payout ratio is currently 31.85%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in shares of Preferred Bank by 24.0% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 186,107 shares of the bank's stock valued at $14,935,000 after acquiring an additional 35,979 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV boosted its position in shares of Preferred Bank by 46.2% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 914 shares of the bank's stock worth $79,000 after buying an additional 289 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund grew its holdings in shares of Preferred Bank by 15.5% during the fourth quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 26,222 shares of the bank's stock valued at $2,265,000 after buying an additional 3,516 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its position in Preferred Bank by 59.6% during the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 5,845 shares of the bank's stock valued at $505,000 after buying an additional 2,183 shares during the period. Finally, Barclays PLC lifted its stake in Preferred Bank by 70.9% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 27,430 shares of the bank's stock worth $2,201,000 after acquiring an additional 11,379 shares in the last quarter. 72.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Preferred Bank

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.