Geode Capital Management LLC Buys 12,283 Shares of Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC)

Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC) by 3.6% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 352,597 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 12,283 shares during the quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Preferred Bank were worth $28,300,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Preferred Bank by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 680,337 shares of the bank’s stock worth $51,357,000 after acquiring an additional 4,539 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Preferred Bank by 0.4% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 592,566 shares of the bank’s stock worth $47,553,000 after purchasing an additional 2,339 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Preferred Bank by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 415,722 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $33,362,000 after purchasing an additional 7,086 shares during the last quarter. LSV Asset Management grew its stake 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 buying an additional 93,815 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dana Investment Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Preferred Bank by 7.4% during the 2nd quarter. Dana Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 98,591 shares of the bank’s stock worth $7,443,000 after buying an additional 6,809 shares during the last quarter. 72.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Stephens downgraded Preferred Bank from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th.

Preferred Bank Trading Up 0.7 %

NASDAQ:PFBC opened at $87.34 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.75 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. Preferred Bank has a 12 month low of $66.88 and a 12 month high of $99.78. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $90.35 and a 200-day simple moving average of $82.98.

Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The bank reported $2.46 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.39 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $132.88 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $68.80 million. Preferred Bank had a return on equity of 19.01% and a net margin of 26.20%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.71 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Preferred Bank will post 9.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Preferred Bank Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 9th will be given a dividend of $0.75 per share. This is a positive change from Preferred Bank’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.43%. Preferred Bank’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.