Preferred Bank $PFBC Shares Sold by Comerica Bank

Comerica Bank trimmed its holdings in shares of Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC) by 2.3% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,006 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 165 shares during the period. Comerica Bank’s holdings in Preferred Bank were worth $586,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. AlphaQuest LLC lifted its position in shares of Preferred Bank by 27.7% during the first quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 3,400 shares of the bank’s stock worth $284,000 after purchasing an additional 738 shares in the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Preferred Bank by 1.7% during the first quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,148,984 shares of the bank’s stock worth $96,125,000 after purchasing an additional 19,697 shares in the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP lifted its position in shares of Preferred Bank by 128.7% during the first quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 12,094 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,012,000 after purchasing an additional 6,806 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in shares of Preferred Bank by 28.8% during the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 257,062 shares of the bank’s stock worth $21,506,000 after purchasing an additional 57,434 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Preferred Bank by 4.0% during the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 14,425 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,207,000 after purchasing an additional 554 shares in the last quarter. 72.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PFBC has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. DA Davidson boosted their target price on shares of Preferred Bank from $90.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of Preferred Bank from $96.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $103.67.

Preferred Bank Trading Down 0.6%

PFBC opened at $95.23 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.37 billion, a PE ratio of 10.07 and a beta of 0.78. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $92.54 and its 200 day moving average price is $86.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 1.07. Preferred Bank has a 12-month low of $71.90 and a 12-month high of $99.78.

Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 21st. The bank reported $2.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.43 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $69.05 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $70.96 million. Preferred Bank had a net margin of 25.04% and a return on equity of 16.64%. As a group, research analysts expect that Preferred Bank will post 9.81 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Preferred Bank Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 22nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, July 8th were issued a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, July 8th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.2%. Preferred Bank’s dividend payout ratio is currently 31.71%.

Preferred Bank announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, May 22nd that authorizes the company to repurchase $125.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the bank to purchase up to 10.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Preferred Bank 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.