Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC) Stock Price Passes Above 200-Day Moving Average – Here’s What Happened

Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC) passed above its 200-day moving average during trading on Thursday . The stock has a 200-day moving average of $83.85 and traded as high as $85.73. Preferred Bank shares last traded at $85.33, with a volume of 82,987 shares trading hands.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Stephens cut shares of Preferred Bank from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th.

Preferred Bank Trading Down 0.8 %

The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $90.80 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $83.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.55 and a beta of 0.97.

Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 21st. The bank reported $2.46 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.39 by $0.07. Preferred Bank had a return on equity of 19.01% and a net margin of 26.20%. The company had revenue of $132.88 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $68.80 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.71 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Preferred Bank will post 9.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Preferred Bank Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. This is an increase from Preferred Bank’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.52%. Preferred Bank’s payout ratio is 30.06%.

Institutional Trading of Preferred Bank

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Copeland Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Preferred Bank during the third quarter worth $54,000. Point72 DIFC Ltd increased its position in shares of Preferred Bank by 69.9% during the 2nd quarter. Point72 DIFC Ltd now owns 848 shares of the bank’s stock worth $64,000 after purchasing an additional 349 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. purchased a new stake in Preferred Bank in the 3rd quarter valued at about $76,000. Point72 Asset Management L.P. boosted its stake in Preferred Bank by 35.1% during the second quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,486 shares of the bank’s stock worth $112,000 after buying an additional 386 shares during the period. Finally, Advisors Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in Preferred Bank by 194.1% during the third quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,906 shares of the bank’s stock worth $153,000 after buying an additional 1,258 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.77% of the company’s stock.

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.