Preferred Bank $PFBC Shares Acquired by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC) by 10.6% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 77,406 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,434 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.54% of Preferred Bank worth $7,020,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its holdings in Preferred Bank by 2.9% in the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 7,266 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $608,000 after purchasing an additional 202 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its stake in shares of Preferred Bank by 19.1% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 25,931 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,169,000 after buying an additional 4,158 shares during the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Preferred Bank by 81.0% during the 1st quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 66,428 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $5,557,000 after buying an additional 29,729 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Preferred Bank by 1,224.0% in the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 331 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 306 shares during the period. Finally, Jump Financial LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Preferred Bank by 148.7% in the 2nd quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 14,225 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,231,000 after buying an additional 8,505 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.77% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. Stephens upped their target price on Preferred Bank from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on Preferred Bank from $105.00 to $111.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised Preferred Bank from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Monday, June 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Preferred Bank currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $106.25.

Preferred Bank Stock Performance

Shares of PFBC stock opened at $104.09 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44. Preferred Bank has a 12-month low of $81.50 and a 12-month high of $112.26. The business’s 50 day moving average is $101.25 and its two-hundred day moving average is $94.97. The company has a market capitalization of $1.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.51 and a beta of 0.55.

Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 22nd. The bank reported $2.78 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.65 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $73.47 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $73.60 million. Preferred Bank had a return on equity of 17.27% and a net margin of 26.54%. Analysts expect that Preferred Bank will post 10.72 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Preferred Bank Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 21st. Investors of record on Tuesday, July 7th were issued a $0.80 dividend. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, July 7th. Preferred Bank’s payout ratio is presently 29.25%.

Preferred Bank Profile

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.