Benjamin Edwards Inc. Buys Shares of 3,387 Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC)

Benjamin Edwards Inc. bought a new position in Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC) in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 3,387 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $272,000.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Comerica Bank raised its stake in Preferred Bank by 35.6% in the first quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 8,242 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $633,000 after buying an additional 2,163 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC raised its position in shares of Preferred Bank by 96.4% in the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,043 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $79,000 after purchasing an additional 512 shares during the last quarter. SummerHaven Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Preferred Bank by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter. SummerHaven Investment Management LLC now owns 12,846 shares of the bank’s stock worth $970,000 after purchasing an additional 201 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its position in Preferred Bank by 44.5% during the 2nd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 9,224 shares of the bank’s stock worth $696,000 after purchasing an additional 2,839 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Picton Mahoney Asset Management acquired a new position in Preferred Bank during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $161,000. 72.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Stephens downgraded shares of Preferred Bank from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday.

Preferred Bank Stock Down 0.0 %

Shares of PFBC stock opened at $93.09 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a current ratio of 1.08. Preferred Bank has a fifty-two week low of $66.63 and a fifty-two week high of $99.78. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.34 billion, a PE ratio of 9.33 and a beta of 0.96. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $88.51 and its 200-day simple moving average is $81.90.

Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The bank reported $2.46 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.39 by $0.07. Preferred Bank had a net margin of 26.20% and a return on equity of 19.01%. The company had revenue of $132.88 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $68.80 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.71 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Preferred Bank will post 9.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Preferred Bank Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, October 21st. Investors of record on Monday, October 7th were issued a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, October 7th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.01%. Preferred Bank’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 28.06%.

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.