Royal Bank of Canada Decreases Position in Preferred Bank $PFBC

Royal Bank of Canada decreased its holdings in Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC) by 73.4% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,918 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 24,621 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada’s holdings in Preferred Bank were worth $809,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Preferred Bank by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 494,827 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $46,727,000 after acquiring an additional 16,348 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC boosted its holdings in Preferred Bank by 5.4% in the fourth quarter. Nuveen LLC now owns 356,065 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $33,623,000 after purchasing an additional 18,309 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Preferred Bank by 19.1% in the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 206,622 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $19,511,000 after purchasing an additional 33,124 shares during the period. Kennedy Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Preferred Bank by 19.9% during the 4th quarter. Kennedy Capital Management LLC now owns 199,419 shares of the bank’s stock worth $18,831,000 after purchasing an additional 33,157 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC grew its stake in Preferred Bank by 18.8% during the 1st quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 171,757 shares of the bank’s stock worth $15,606,000 after purchasing an additional 27,169 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.77% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Weiss Ratings upgraded Preferred Bank from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Monday, June 8th. Stephens lifted their price objective on Preferred Bank from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Finally, 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 report on Monday, April 27th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $106.25.

Preferred Bank Price Performance

Shares of PFBC opened at $104.49 on Friday. Preferred Bank has a twelve month low of $81.50 and a twelve month high of $112.26. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $104.86 and its 200-day simple moving average is $96.74. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.55 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44.

Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 22nd. The bank reported $2.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.65 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $73.47 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $73.60 million. Preferred Bank had a net margin of 26.54% and a return on equity of 17.27%. Equities analysts forecast that Preferred Bank will post 10.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Preferred Bank Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 21st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, July 7th were paid a $0.80 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, July 7th. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.1%. Preferred Bank’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 29.25%.

About Preferred Bank

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.