WINTON GROUP Ltd Grows Stock Holdings in Preferred Bank $PFBC

WINTON GROUP Ltd increased its position in shares of Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC) by 217.1% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 42,116 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 28,835 shares during the period. WINTON GROUP Ltd’s holdings in Preferred Bank were worth $3,645,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of PFBC. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Preferred Bank by 1.7% during the 1st quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,148,984 shares of the bank’s stock worth $96,125,000 after purchasing an additional 19,697 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Preferred Bank by 0.9% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 890,350 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $74,487,000 after buying an additional 8,074 shares during the period. Boston Partners lifted its position in Preferred Bank by 1.3% in the second quarter. Boston Partners now owns 532,085 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $46,428,000 after buying an additional 6,963 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Preferred Bank by 9.3% during the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 475,025 shares of the bank’s stock worth $39,741,000 after buying an additional 40,435 shares during the period. Finally, Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Preferred Bank during the first quarter valued at about $33,915,000. 72.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Preferred Bank Trading Up 0.7%

Shares of PFBC opened at $94.73 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $91.38 and its two-hundred day moving average is $90.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 1.07. The stock has a market cap of $1.37 billion, a PE ratio of 9.63 and a beta of 0.74. Preferred Bank has a 12 month low of $71.90 and a 12 month high of $99.44.

Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC) last issued its earnings results on Monday, October 20th. The bank reported $2.84 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.57 by $0.27. The company had revenue of $74.98 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $72.74 million. Preferred Bank had a net margin of 25.67% and a return on equity of 16.91%. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.46 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Preferred Bank will post 9.81 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Preferred Bank Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 21st. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 7th were given a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, October 7th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.2%. Preferred Bank’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 30.49%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on PFBC. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Preferred Bank in a research note on Tuesday, December 2nd. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Preferred Bank from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 24th. DA Davidson reduced their target price on shares of Preferred Bank from $108.00 to $104.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price target on Preferred Bank from $112.00 to $119.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $104.67.

Preferred Bank 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.