Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC) Short Interest Down 14.6% in October

Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC) was the recipient of a large decrease in short interest in October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totalling 956,800 shares, a decrease of 14.6% from the September 30th total of 1,120,000 shares. Approximately 7.8% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 71,100 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 13.5 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on PFBC shares. Stephens increased their price objective on Preferred Bank from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on Preferred Bank from $88.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its stake in Preferred Bank by 78.3% during the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 15,564 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,195,000 after acquiring an additional 6,833 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management acquired a new stake in shares of Preferred Bank in the first quarter valued at $5,951,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Preferred Bank by 1.3% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 868,073 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $66,642,000 after buying an additional 10,931 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Preferred Bank in the third quarter valued at $294,000. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Preferred Bank by 6.2% in the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 15,637 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,200,000 after buying an additional 919 shares in the last quarter. 72.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Preferred Bank Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of PFBC traded up $0.68 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $85.54. 57,275 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 82,299. Preferred Bank has a 12-month low of $58.52 and a 12-month high of $91.67. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $81.02 and a 200-day simple moving average of $78.60. The company has a quick ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The company has a market cap of $1.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.50 and a beta of 0.95.

Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $68.80 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.71 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Preferred Bank will post 9.71 EPS for the current year.

Preferred Bank Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, October 21st. Stockholders of record on Monday, October 7th were issued a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.27%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, October 7th. Preferred Bank’s payout ratio is presently 28.06%.

Preferred Bank Company Profile

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.