Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC) Stock Crosses Above 200-Day Moving Average – Should You Sell?

Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC) passed above its two hundred day moving average during trading on Thursday . The stock has a two hundred day moving average of $93.35 and traded as high as $101.85. Preferred Bank shares last traded at $100.98, with a volume of 67,705 shares changing hands.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on PFBC. Brean Capital lowered shares of Preferred Bank from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 24th. Janney Montgomery Scott started coverage on Preferred Bank in a research note on Tuesday, February 24th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $100.00 price objective on the stock. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on Preferred Bank from $105.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Preferred Bank from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Monday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $102.00.

Preferred Bank Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 1.06. The firm has a market cap of $1.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.51 and a beta of 0.56. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $94.67 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $93.41.

Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The bank reported $2.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.48 by $0.05. Preferred Bank had a return on equity of 17.52% and a net margin of 26.49%.The company had revenue of $69.62 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $71.76 million. On average, research analysts forecast that Preferred Bank will post 10.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Preferred Bank Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 21st. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 7th were paid a dividend of $0.80 per share. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.1%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, April 7th. Preferred Bank’s payout ratio is currently 29.96%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of PFBC. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its holdings in Preferred Bank by 2.9% during the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 7,266 shares of the bank’s stock worth $608,000 after acquiring an additional 202 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC grew its holdings in Preferred Bank by 19.1% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 25,931 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,169,000 after acquiring an additional 4,158 shares during the period. Jane Street Group LLC grew its holdings in Preferred Bank by 81.0% during the first quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 66,428 shares of the bank’s stock worth $5,557,000 after acquiring an additional 29,729 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Preferred Bank by 1,224.0% during the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 331 shares of the bank’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 306 shares during the period. Finally, Jump Financial LLC grew its holdings in Preferred Bank by 148.7% during the second quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 14,225 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,231,000 after acquiring an additional 8,505 shares during the period. 72.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Preferred Bank Company Profile

Preferred Bank (NASDAQ: PFBC) is a California-chartered commercial bank headquartered in Los Angeles. The institution offers a full range of banking products and services to businesses and individuals, with a particular emphasis on commercial real estate lending, business banking, treasury management and deposit accounts. Preferred Bank operates through branch offices across Southern California and national loan production offices in major U.S. markets.

The bank’s core lending portfolio focuses on commercial real estate acquisition, development and investment properties.