Virtus Investment Advisers Inc. Sells 3,400 Shares of Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC)

Virtus Investment Advisers Inc. lowered its position in Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC) by 44.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 4,238 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 3,400 shares during the quarter. Virtus Investment Advisers Inc.’s holdings in Preferred Bank were worth $366,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Barclays PLC lifted its stake in Preferred Bank by 70.9% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 27,430 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,201,000 after purchasing an additional 11,379 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its stake in Preferred Bank by 59.6% in the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 5,845 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $505,000 after buying an additional 2,183 shares during the period. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC lifted its position in shares of Preferred Bank by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 16,272 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,406,000 after buying an additional 334 shares during the last quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management lifted its position in shares of Preferred Bank by 12.7% in the fourth quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 3,498 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $302,000 after buying an additional 394 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV boosted its stake in shares of Preferred Bank by 46.2% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 914 shares of the bank’s stock worth $79,000 after acquiring an additional 289 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 72.77% of the company’s stock.

Preferred Bank Trading Up 0.0%

Shares of NASDAQ:PFBC opened at $85.31 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 1.08. Preferred Bank has a 1 year low of $71.43 and a 1 year high of $99.78. The company has a market capitalization of $1.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.86 and a beta of 0.69. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $81.76 and its 200 day simple moving average is $86.71.

Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC) last announced its earnings results on Friday, April 25th. The bank reported $2.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.33 by ($0.10). Preferred Bank had a return on equity of 17.80% and a net margin of 25.00%. The company had revenue of $65.96 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $70.78 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.44 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Preferred Bank will post 9.81 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Preferred Bank Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 21st. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 7th were paid a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, April 7th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.52%. Preferred Bank’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 31.85%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Stephens restated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $91.00 price target on shares of Preferred Bank in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. Piper Sandler cut their target price on shares of Preferred Bank from $108.00 to $96.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. Finally, DA Davidson reduced their target price on shares of Preferred Bank from $95.00 to $90.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 28th.

Preferred Bank 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.