Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC) Shares Gap Down – Should You Sell?

Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC) gapped down before the market opened on Friday. The stock had previously closed at $108.62, but opened at $103.81. Preferred Bank shares last traded at $106.40, with a volume of 57,180 shares changing hands.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Preferred Bank from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Thursday, October 8th. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on Preferred Bank from $115.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 1st. Benchmark raised shares of Preferred Bank to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 23rd. Finally, Stephens upped their target price on shares of Preferred Bank from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Preferred Bank currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $110.00.

Preferred Bank Price Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $1.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.80 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $104.72 and a 200-day moving average price of $101.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a current ratio of 1.08.

Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC) last posted its earnings results on Friday, October 23rd. The bank reported $2.73 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.69 by $0.04. Preferred Bank had a return on equity of 17.27% and a net margin of 26.54%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Preferred Bank will post 10.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Preferred Bank Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, October 19th. Investors of record on Monday, October 5th were issued a dividend of $0.80 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, October 5th. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.0%. Preferred Bank’s dividend payout ratio is presently 29.25%.

Institutional Trading of Preferred Bank

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. SummerHaven Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Preferred Bank by 27.9% in the third quarter. SummerHaven Investment Management LLC now owns 10,255 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,074,000 after purchasing an additional 2,239 shares during the period. Engineers Gate Manager LP acquired a new stake in shares of Preferred Bank during the second quarter worth $477,000. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC acquired a new position in shares of Preferred Bank in the second quarter valued at about $55,000. Allworth Financial LP increased its position in Preferred Bank by 4.1% during the second quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 4,200 shares of the bank’s stock worth $446,000 after acquiring an additional 164 shares during the period. Finally, Nykredit A S bought a new stake in Preferred Bank in the 2nd quarter valued at about $102,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.77% of the company’s stock.

Preferred Bank Company Profile

Preferred Bank (NASDAQ: PFBC) is a commercial bank headquartered in Los Angeles, California. Founded in 1991, the bank provides banking and financial services to businesses, professionals and individuals, with a particular focus on commercial banking and relationship-based service.

The bank’s principal offerings include commercial and industrial loans, commercial real estate financing, construction and residential real estate loans, and consumer lending. Preferred Bank also provides deposit accounts, cash-management services, online banking and other treasury-management solutions for business and personal customers.

Preferred Bank operates a network of full-service branches in California and New York, serving customers in major metropolitan markets including the greater Los Angeles area, the San Francisco Bay Area and New York City.