First Trust Advisors LP Increases Stock Position in Preferred Bank $PFBC

First Trust Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC) by 9.8% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 56,129 shares of the bank’s stock after buying an additional 4,991 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP’s holdings in Preferred Bank were worth $5,090,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH increased its holdings in shares of Preferred Bank by 675.6% in the 4th quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH now owns 24,417 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,395,000 after purchasing an additional 21,269 shares in the last quarter. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL raised its stake in shares of Preferred Bank by 65.0% in the third quarter. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL now owns 27,921 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,524,000 after purchasing an additional 10,998 shares during the last quarter. Denali Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Preferred Bank by 48.0% during the fourth quarter. Denali Advisors LLC now owns 50,600 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $4,778,000 after purchasing an additional 16,400 shares in the last quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Preferred Bank by 86.8% during the first quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd now owns 20,539 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,863,000 after purchasing an additional 9,546 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC lifted its holdings in shares of Preferred Bank by 18.8% during the first quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 171,757 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $15,606,000 after purchasing an additional 27,169 shares in the last quarter. 72.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently commented on PFBC shares. Weiss Ratings raised Preferred Bank from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Monday, June 8th. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on Preferred Bank from $105.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Finally, Stephens upped their target price on shares of Preferred Bank from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $106.25.

Preferred Bank Trading Up 1.6%

NASDAQ:PFBC opened at $106.10 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44. Preferred Bank has a 12 month low of $81.50 and a 12 month high of $112.26. The company has a market cap of $1.53 billion, a PE ratio of 9.70 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $102.34 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $95.27.

Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The bank reported $2.78 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.65 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $73.47 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $73.60 million. Preferred Bank had a net margin of 26.54% and a return on equity of 17.27%. Research analysts forecast that Preferred Bank will post 10.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Preferred Bank Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 21st. Investors of record on Tuesday, July 7th were given a dividend of $0.80 per share. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, July 7th. Preferred Bank’s dividend payout ratio is 29.25%.

About Preferred Bank

Preferred Bank (NASDAQ: PFBC) is a California-chartered commercial bank headquartered in Los Angeles. The institution offers a full range of banking products and services to businesses and individuals, with a particular emphasis on commercial real estate lending, business banking, treasury management and deposit accounts. Preferred Bank operates through branch offices across Southern California and national loan production offices in major U.S. markets.

The bank’s core lending portfolio focuses on commercial real estate acquisition, development and investment properties.