Bank of New York Mellon Corp Sells 5,522 Shares of Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC)

Bank of New York Mellon Corp lessened its stake in Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC) by 3.9% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 137,311 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 5,522 shares during the quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp owned approximately 0.95% of Preferred Bank worth $11,487,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of PFBC. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund increased its position in shares of Preferred Bank by 2.1% during the first quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 6,828 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $571,000 after acquiring an additional 138 shares during the last quarter. SummerHaven Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Preferred Bank by 1.5% during the first quarter. SummerHaven Investment Management LLC now owns 10,412 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $871,000 after acquiring an additional 157 shares during the last quarter. Jump Financial LLC increased its position in shares of Preferred Bank by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 9,148 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $790,000 after acquiring an additional 185 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its position in shares of Preferred Bank by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 7,064 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $610,000 after acquiring an additional 257 shares during the last quarter. Finally, NBC Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Preferred Bank during the first quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Institutional investors own 72.77% of the company’s stock.

Preferred Bank Stock Performance

Preferred Bank stock opened at $92.61 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a current ratio of 1.07. The stock has a market cap of $1.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.83 and a beta of 0.69. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $86.05 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $85.08. Preferred Bank has a fifty-two week low of $71.90 and a fifty-two week high of $99.78.

Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC) last announced 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). Preferred Bank had a net margin of 24.87% and a return on equity of 16.88%. The company had revenue of $65.96 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $70.78 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.44 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Preferred Bank will post 9.81 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Preferred Bank Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 22nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, July 8th will be issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.24%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, July 8th. Preferred Bank’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 31.85%.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

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.