Kennedy Capital Management LLC Purchases Shares of 44,932 Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC)

Kennedy Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC) in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 44,932 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $3,449,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of PFBC. Gladius Capital Management LP raised its holdings in Preferred Bank by 518.1% in the 4th quarter. Gladius Capital Management LP now owns 445 shares of the bank’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 373 shares during the period. AJOVista LLC bought a new stake in Preferred Bank during the fourth quarter valued at about $101,000. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Preferred Bank in the first quarter valued at about $118,000. Everence Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Preferred Bank in the fourth quarter worth about $213,000. Finally, Olympiad Research LP acquired a new position in shares of Preferred Bank during the 4th quarter worth about $240,000. 72.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. Stephens raised their target price on Preferred Bank from $84.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on Preferred Bank from $88.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday.

Preferred Bank Price Performance

NASDAQ:PFBC traded up $1.82 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $87.07. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 165,121 shares, compared to its average volume of 89,545. The company has a market capitalization of $1.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.29 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. Preferred Bank has a fifty-two week low of $58.52 and a fifty-two week high of $91.67. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $76.93 and a 200-day moving average of $75.00.

Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The bank reported $2.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.39 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $130.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $70.55 million. Preferred Bank had a return on equity of 20.24% and a net margin of 27.35%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.61 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Preferred Bank will post 9.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Preferred Bank Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 19th. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 5th were issued a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.22%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 5th. Preferred Bank’s payout ratio is 27.03%.

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 in the United States. 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.