SG Americas Securities LLC Acquires New Position in Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC)

SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC) during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 3,662 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $294,000.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of PFBC. LSV Asset Management grew its position in Preferred Bank by 121.0% during the 2nd quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 171,330 shares of the bank’s stock worth $12,934,000 after acquiring an additional 93,815 shares during the last quarter. Kennedy Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Preferred Bank during the 1st quarter worth approximately $3,449,000. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in Preferred Bank by 24.7% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 77,745 shares of the bank’s stock worth $5,869,000 after acquiring an additional 15,391 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Preferred Bank by 1.3% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 868,073 shares of the bank’s stock worth $66,642,000 after acquiring an additional 10,931 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Inspire Investing LLC bought a new position in Preferred Bank during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $791,000. 72.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Preferred Bank Price Performance

Shares of PFBC stock opened at $83.33 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $1.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.04 and a beta of 0.95. Preferred Bank has a fifty-two week low of $58.52 and a fifty-two week high of $91.67. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $80.11 and its 200-day moving average price is $78.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a current ratio of 1.07.

Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 25th. The bank reported $2.48 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.39 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $130.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 last year, the company earned $2.61 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Preferred Bank will post 9.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Preferred Bank Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, October 21st. Investors of record on Monday, October 7th will be given a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, October 7th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.36%. Preferred Bank’s dividend payout ratio is presently 27.03%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently issued reports on PFBC. Stephens raised their price target on Preferred Bank from $84.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on Preferred Bank from $88.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th.

About Preferred Bank

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.