Dana Investment Advisors Inc. Trims Stake in Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC)

Dana Investment Advisors Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC) by 4.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 85,121 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 4,237 shares during the quarter. Dana Investment Advisors Inc. owned about 0.59% of Preferred Bank worth $7,353,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. FMR LLC grew its holdings in Preferred Bank by 4.2% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,674 shares of the bank’s stock worth $536,000 after purchasing an additional 271 shares during the period. KBC Group NV increased its stake in shares of Preferred Bank by 46.2% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 914 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $79,000 after purchasing an additional 289 shares in the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC increased its stake in shares of Preferred Bank by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 16,272 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,406,000 after purchasing an additional 334 shares in the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Preferred Bank by 217.5% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 562 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $49,000 after purchasing an additional 385 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management increased its stake in shares of Preferred Bank by 12.7% during 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 purchasing an additional 394 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.77% of the company’s stock.

Preferred Bank Stock Down 1.1 %

PFBC stock opened at $84.64 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $87.86 and its 200-day moving average price is $86.45. The stock has a market cap of $1.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.79 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a quick ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. Preferred Bank has a twelve month low of $70.22 and a twelve month high of $99.78.

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

Preferred Bank Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 9th were issued a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.54%. This is a boost from Preferred Bank’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. Preferred Bank’s payout ratio is 31.15%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have weighed in on PFBC. Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of Preferred Bank from $101.00 to $111.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Stephens reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and set a $100.00 target price on shares of Preferred Bank in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, DA Davidson increased their price target on shares of Preferred Bank from $98.00 to $101.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th.

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. 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.