Renaissance Technologies LLC Sells 20,600 Shares of Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC)

Renaissance Technologies LLC cut its holdings in Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC – Get Rating) by 14.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 123,255 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 20,600 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC owned 0.82% of Preferred Bank worth $8,040,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in PFBC. Advisor Group Holdings Inc. raised its position in Preferred Bank by 181.4% in the first quarter. Advisor Group Holdings Inc. now owns 1,770 shares of the bank’s stock worth $131,000 after acquiring an additional 1,141 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in shares of Preferred Bank by 14.9% in the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 92,335 shares of the bank’s stock worth $6,841,000 after purchasing an additional 12,002 shares in the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Preferred Bank by 59.6% in the first quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 1,352 shares of the bank’s stock worth $99,000 after purchasing an additional 505 shares in the last quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Preferred Bank by 58.1% in the first quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 7,506 shares of the bank’s stock worth $556,000 after purchasing an additional 2,759 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS increased its stake in shares of Preferred Bank by 12.4% in the first quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 11,642 shares of the bank’s stock worth $863,000 after purchasing an additional 1,280 shares in the last quarter. 71.08% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Preferred Bank Stock Performance

PFBC opened at $68.20 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.82 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a fifty day moving average of $71.75 and a 200 day moving average of $71.47. Preferred Bank has a fifty-two week low of $64.10 and a fifty-two week high of $78.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.04.

Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC – Get Rating) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 18th. The bank reported $2.71 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.57 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $76.92 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $74.13 million. Preferred Bank had a net margin of 42.35% and a return on equity of 21.42%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Preferred Bank will post 10 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Preferred Bank Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 20th. Investors of record on Friday, January 6th were paid a dividend of $0.55 per share. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.23%. This is a boost from Preferred Bank’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, January 5th. Preferred Bank’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.23%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PFBC has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. StockNews.com cut shares of Preferred Bank from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 22nd. DA Davidson reduced their price objective on shares of Preferred Bank from $82.00 to $76.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 20th.

Preferred Bank Profile

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Preferred Bank operates as an independent commercial bank. It offers real estate financing for residential, commercial, industrial, and other income producing properties. Its business and consumer products include checking, savings, money market, and certificate of deposit accounts. The firm also offers treasury management services such as account reconciliation, remote deposit, cash and check courier services, merchant processing, and ACH credit origination.