Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC) Given “Buy (B-)” Rating at Weiss Ratings

Weiss Ratings reaffirmed their buy (b-) rating on shares of Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC) in a research report sent to investors on Friday morning,Weiss Ratings reports.

Several other research analysts have also recently commented on PFBC. Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of Preferred Bank from $112.00 to $119.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. DA Davidson lowered their target price on shares of Preferred Bank from $108.00 to $104.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of Preferred Bank from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 24th. One investment 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Preferred Bank currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $104.67.

Preferred Bank Stock Down 0.6%

Shares of PFBC opened at $90.25 on Friday. Preferred Bank has a 12 month low of $71.90 and a 12 month high of $99.78. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $91.87 and its 200-day moving average is $88.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.30 billion, a PE ratio of 9.17 and a beta of 0.71. The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47.

Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC) last announced its earnings results on Monday, October 20th. The bank reported $2.84 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.57 by $0.27. Preferred Bank had a net margin of 25.67% and a return on equity of 16.91%. The company had revenue of $74.98 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $72.74 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.46 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Preferred Bank will post 9.81 EPS for the current year.

Preferred Bank Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 21st. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 7th were paid a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, October 7th. Preferred Bank’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 30.49%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PFBC. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund increased its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 138 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its position in 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 boosted its position in 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. Teacher Retirement System of Texas boosted its position in Preferred Bank by 51.4% in the first quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 3,842 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $321,000 after buying an additional 1,304 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in Preferred Bank by 2.8% in the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 72,537 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $6,068,000 after buying an additional 2,007 shares in the last quarter. 72.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.