Teacher Retirement System of Texas Purchases 1,304 Shares of Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC)

Teacher Retirement System of Texas lifted its position in Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC) by 51.4% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,842 shares of the bank’s stock after buying an additional 1,304 shares during the quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas’ holdings in Preferred Bank were worth $321,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Preferred Bank by 12.6% in the first quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 10,106 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $849,000 after buying an additional 1,130 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its stake in shares of Preferred Bank by 40.3% in the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 9,488 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $794,000 after buying an additional 2,724 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its stake in shares of Preferred Bank by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 71,955 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $6,215,000 after buying an additional 2,400 shares in the last quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund grew its stake in shares of Preferred Bank by 2.1% in the first quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 6,828 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $571,000 after buying an additional 138 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company MN grew its stake in shares of Preferred Bank by 25.4% in the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 7,848 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $678,000 after buying an additional 1,588 shares in the last quarter. 72.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have commented on PFBC shares. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on shares of Preferred Bank from $108.00 to $96.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th. DA Davidson reduced their price objective on shares of Preferred Bank from $95.00 to $90.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Stephens reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and set a $91.00 price objective on shares of Preferred Bank in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th.

Preferred Bank Trading Down 0.5%

PFBC stock opened at $92.61 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 1.07. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $86.05 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $85.10. Preferred Bank has a one year low of $71.90 and a one year high of $99.78. The stock has a market cap of $1.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.83 and a beta of 0.69.

Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 25th. The bank reported $2.23 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.33 by ($0.10). The company had revenue of $65.96 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $70.78 million. Preferred Bank had a return on equity of 16.88% and a net margin of 24.87%. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.44 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Preferred Bank will post 9.81 EPS for the current year.

Preferred Bank Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 22nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, July 8th will be given a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, July 8th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.24%. Preferred Bank’s payout ratio is presently 31.85%.

Preferred Bank announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Thursday, May 22nd that allows the company to repurchase $125.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the bank to reacquire up to 10.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

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.