Federated Hermes Inc. Purchases 427 Shares of Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC)

Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its position in shares of Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC) by 1.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 30,946 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 427 shares during the quarter. Federated Hermes Inc.’s holdings in Preferred Bank were worth $2,673,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Picton Mahoney Asset Management increased its position in Preferred Bank by 110.7% in the fourth quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management now owns 550 shares of the bank’s stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 289 shares during the period. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Preferred Bank by 217.5% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 562 shares of the bank’s stock worth $49,000 after buying an additional 385 shares during the period. R Squared Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Preferred Bank during the fourth quarter worth approximately $65,000. KBC Group NV lifted its holdings in Preferred Bank by 46.2% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 914 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $79,000 after buying an additional 289 shares during the period. Finally, Virtu Financial LLC bought a new position in Preferred Bank in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $203,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.77% of the company’s stock.

Preferred Bank Trading Up 0.2 %

PFBC opened at $76.31 on Monday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $84.73 and its two-hundred day moving average is $86.71. The firm has a market cap of $1.10 billion, a PE ratio of 7.92 and a beta of 0.71. Preferred Bank has a twelve month low of $70.99 and a twelve month high of $99.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a current ratio of 1.08.

Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 27th. The bank reported $2.25 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.42 by ($0.17). Preferred Bank had a return on equity of 17.80% and a net margin of 25.00%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Preferred Bank will post 9.81 EPS for the current year.

Preferred Bank Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 21st. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.93%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 7th. Preferred Bank’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 31.15%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have commented on the stock. Stephens reiterated an “equal weight” rating and set a $100.00 target price on shares of Preferred Bank in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on Preferred Bank from $101.00 to $111.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, DA Davidson raised their target price on Preferred Bank from $98.00 to $101.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th.

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.