2,910 Shares in Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC) Bought by Everence Capital Management Inc.

Everence Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 2,910 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $213,000.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Phocas Financial Corp. raised its position in Preferred Bank by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Phocas Financial Corp. now owns 150,897 shares of the bank’s stock worth $11,023,000 after purchasing an additional 2,908 shares during the period. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new position in shares of Preferred Bank in the fourth quarter valued at about $460,000. Smith Graham & Co. Investment Advisors LP purchased a new position in shares of Preferred Bank in the fourth quarter valued at about $6,522,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its position in shares of Preferred Bank by 140.3% in the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 6,983 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $510,000 after acquiring an additional 4,077 shares during the period. Finally, McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Preferred Bank in the fourth quarter valued at about $34,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.77% of the company’s stock.

Preferred Bank Price Performance

PFBC stock opened at $74.30 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $73.24 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $69.41. Preferred Bank has a 12-month low of $42.42 and a 12-month high of $77.65. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.06 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21.

Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 25th. The bank reported $2.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.54 by $0.06. Preferred Bank had a net margin of 30.93% and a return on equity of 22.30%. The firm had revenue of $127.07 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $72.84 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.71 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Preferred Bank will post 9.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Preferred Bank Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 19th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 5th were given a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.77%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 4th. Preferred Bank’s payout ratio is 26.59%.

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 in the United States. 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.