Advisors Asset Management Inc. Buys 768 Shares of Preferred Bank $PFBC

Advisors Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC) by 22.7% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,149 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 768 shares during the period. Advisors Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Preferred Bank were worth $347,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of PFBC. Deutsche Bank AG lifted its stake in Preferred Bank by 405.8% during the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 36,366 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $3,141,000 after acquiring an additional 29,176 shares in the last quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Preferred Bank during the 4th quarter worth $1,407,000. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Preferred Bank by 3.8% during the 4th quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 7,064 shares of the bank’s stock worth $610,000 after purchasing an additional 257 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Preferred Bank by 28.8% during the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 147,702 shares of the bank’s stock worth $12,758,000 after purchasing an additional 32,990 shares during the period. Finally, Nuveen Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Preferred Bank by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 468,759 shares of the bank’s stock worth $40,491,000 after purchasing an additional 1,443 shares during the period. 72.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Preferred Bank Trading Up 0.0%

Shares of PFBC opened at $94.56 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $92.97 and a 200 day moving average of $86.49. Preferred Bank has a fifty-two week low of $71.90 and a fifty-two week high of $99.78. The firm has a market cap of $1.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.00 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a current ratio of 1.07.

Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 21st. The bank reported $2.52 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.43 by $0.09. Preferred Bank had a return on equity of 16.64% and a net margin of 25.04%.The company had revenue of $69.05 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $70.96 million. As a group, research analysts forecast that Preferred Bank will post 9.81 EPS for the current year.

Preferred Bank Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 22nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, July 8th were issued a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, July 8th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.2%. Preferred Bank’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 31.71%.

Preferred Bank announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase program on Thursday, May 22nd that permits the company to repurchase $125.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the bank to reacquire up to 10.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on PFBC shares. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on Preferred Bank from $96.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. DA Davidson lifted their target price on Preferred Bank from $90.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $103.67.

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.