Denali Advisors LLC Buys 16,400 Shares of Preferred Bank $PFBC

Denali Advisors LLC raised its stake in Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC) by 48.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 50,600 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 16,400 shares during the period. Denali Advisors LLC’s holdings in Preferred Bank were worth $4,778,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL grew its holdings in shares of Preferred Bank by 65.0% during the third quarter. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL now owns 27,921 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,524,000 after buying an additional 10,998 shares during the last quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH grew its holdings in shares of Preferred Bank by 675.6% during the fourth quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH now owns 24,417 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,395,000 after buying an additional 21,269 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Preferred Bank by 15.7% during the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 337,804 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $30,534,000 after buying an additional 45,946 shares during the last quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund grew its holdings in shares of Preferred Bank by 36.1% during the third quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 31,322 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,831,000 after buying an additional 8,300 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Preferred Bank by 316.8% during the third quarter. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd now owns 10,212 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $923,000 after buying an additional 7,762 shares during the last quarter. 72.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on PFBC. Stephens reiterated a “positive” rating on shares of Preferred Bank in a report on Monday, January 26th. Janney Montgomery Scott started coverage on shares of Preferred Bank in a report on Tuesday, February 24th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $100.00 price target on the stock. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of Preferred Bank from $105.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. Finally, Brean Capital cut shares of Preferred Bank from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 24th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Preferred Bank currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $102.00.

Preferred Bank Stock Up 0.3%

Preferred Bank stock opened at $95.04 on Friday. Preferred Bank has a fifty-two week low of $79.60 and a fifty-two week high of $103.05. The stock has a market cap of $1.37 billion, a PE ratio of 8.90 and a beta of 0.56. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $91.64 and its 200 day simple moving average is $92.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a current ratio of 1.07.

Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The bank reported $2.53 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.48 by $0.05. Preferred Bank had a net margin of 26.49% and a return on equity of 17.52%. The business had revenue of $69.62 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $71.76 million. Research analysts predict that Preferred Bank will post 10.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Preferred Bank Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 21st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 7th were given a $0.80 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, April 7th. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.4%. Preferred Bank’s payout ratio is currently 29.96%.

About Preferred Bank

Preferred Bank (NASDAQ: PFBC) is a California-chartered commercial bank headquartered in Los Angeles. The institution offers a full range of banking products and services to businesses and individuals, with a particular emphasis on commercial real estate lending, business banking, treasury management and deposit accounts. Preferred Bank operates through branch offices across Southern California and national loan production offices in major U.S. markets.

The bank’s core lending portfolio focuses on commercial real estate acquisition, development and investment properties.