Stieven Capital Advisors L.P. Lowers Holdings in Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC)

Stieven Capital Advisors L.P. decreased its position in shares of Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC) by 5.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 110,721 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 6,900 shares during the quarter. Stieven Capital Advisors L.P. owned approximately 0.77% of Preferred Bank worth $9,564,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Copeland Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Preferred Bank during the 3rd quarter worth about $54,000. R Squared Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Preferred Bank in the 4th quarter worth approximately $65,000. KBC Group NV boosted 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. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. purchased a new position in Preferred Bank during the third quarter valued at approximately $76,000. Finally, Advisors Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Preferred Bank by 194.1% in the third quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,906 shares of the bank’s stock worth $153,000 after buying an additional 1,258 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.77% of the company’s stock.

Preferred Bank Trading Down 1.5 %

Shares of PFBC stock opened at $89.87 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.33 and a beta of 0.97. Preferred Bank has a fifty-two week low of $69.69 and a fifty-two week high of $99.78. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $88.29 and its two-hundred day moving average is $85.54. 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 earnings per share 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%. Research analysts expect that Preferred Bank will post 9.81 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Preferred Bank Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 9th were paid a $0.75 dividend. This is a boost from Preferred Bank’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.34%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 10th. Preferred Bank’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 31.15%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

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.