Preferred Bank $PFBC Shares Sold by Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC

Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC) by 3.7% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 33,479 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 1,300 shares during the period. Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC owned 0.23% of Preferred Bank worth $2,897,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Preferred Bank by 1.7% in the first quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,148,984 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $96,125,000 after purchasing an additional 19,697 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Preferred Bank by 0.9% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 890,350 shares of the bank’s stock worth $74,487,000 after buying an additional 8,074 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners boosted its holdings in shares of Preferred Bank by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. Boston Partners now owns 532,085 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $46,428,000 after buying an additional 6,963 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Preferred Bank by 9.3% in the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 475,025 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $39,741,000 after buying an additional 40,435 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in Preferred Bank during the 1st quarter worth $33,915,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.77% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on PFBC. Zacks Research upgraded Preferred Bank from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 24th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Preferred Bank in a report on Friday, October 31st. Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of Preferred Bank from $112.00 to $119.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Finally, DA Davidson lowered their price target on shares of Preferred Bank from $108.00 to $104.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $104.67.

Preferred Bank Stock Performance

Shares of PFBC opened at $92.54 on Tuesday. Preferred Bank has a 1 year low of $71.90 and a 1 year high of $99.78. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $90.84 and its 200 day simple moving average is $89.81. The company has a market capitalization of $1.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.40 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a current ratio of 1.07.

Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 20th. The bank reported $2.84 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.57 by $0.27. Preferred Bank had a return on equity of 16.91% and a net margin of 25.67%.The company had revenue of $74.98 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $72.74 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.46 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Preferred Bank will post 9.81 EPS for the current year.

Preferred Bank Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 21st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 7th were issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.2%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, October 7th. Preferred Bank’s dividend payout ratio is presently 30.49%.

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.