Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” by Analysts

Shares of Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the seven research firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and two have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $102.00.

Several research firms have recently weighed in on PFBC. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Preferred Bank from a “buy (b)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Friday, May 15th. Brean Capital cut shares of Preferred Bank from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 24th. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of Preferred Bank from $105.00 to $111.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott began coverage on shares of Preferred Bank in a report on Tuesday, February 24th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $100.00 price objective for the company.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Preferred Bank

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of PFBC. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Preferred Bank by 1,224.0% during the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 331 shares of the bank’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 306 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP boosted its position in shares of Preferred Bank by 1,992.0% during the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 523 shares of the bank’s stock worth $47,000 after acquiring an additional 498 shares during the last quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Preferred Bank during the third quarter worth $70,000. Kemnay Advisory Services Inc. bought a new position in shares of Preferred Bank during the fourth quarter worth $91,000. Finally, Clearstead Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Preferred Bank by 192.1% during the fourth quarter. Clearstead Advisors LLC now owns 1,072 shares of the bank’s stock worth $101,000 after acquiring an additional 705 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 72.77% of the company’s stock.

Preferred Bank Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PFBC opened at $93.70 on Thursday. Preferred Bank has a 1 year low of $79.60 and a 1 year high of $103.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 1.06. The company’s 50-day moving average is $93.40 and its 200 day moving average is $93.02. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.77 and a beta of 0.56.

Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 22nd. The bank reported $2.53 EPS 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 analyst estimates of $71.76 million. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Preferred Bank will post 10.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Preferred Bank Announces Dividend

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