JPMorgan Chase & Co. Purchases 35,979 Shares of Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC)

JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in shares of Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC - Free Report) by 24.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 186,107 shares of the bank's stock after purchasing an additional 35,979 shares during the quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. owned 1.29% of Preferred Bank worth $14,935,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. WINTON GROUP Ltd boosted its stake in Preferred Bank by 1.7% during the second quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd now owns 13,970 shares of the bank's stock worth $1,055,000 after buying an additional 232 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of Preferred Bank by 4.2% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,674 shares of the bank's stock valued at $536,000 after acquiring an additional 271 shares in the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. increased its stake in Preferred Bank by 0.9% in the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 30,228 shares of the bank's stock valued at $2,282,000 after acquiring an additional 274 shares during the period. Sei Investments Co. raised its position in Preferred Bank by 6.7% in the second quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 5,137 shares of the bank's stock worth $388,000 after purchasing an additional 323 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Point72 DIFC Ltd lifted its stake in Preferred Bank by 69.9% during the second quarter. Point72 DIFC Ltd now owns 848 shares of the bank's stock worth $64,000 after purchasing an additional 349 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 72.77% of the company's stock.

Preferred Bank Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PFBC traded down $3.91 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $81.42. 105,110 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 89,135. Preferred Bank has a 12 month low of $66.88 and a 12 month high of $99.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a current ratio of 1.08. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $90.75 and its 200-day simple moving average is $83.97. The firm has a market cap of $1.17 billion, a PE ratio of 8.16 and a beta of 0.97.

Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The bank reported $2.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.39 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $132.88 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $68.80 million. Preferred Bank had a net margin of 26.20% and a return on equity of 19.01%. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.71 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Preferred Bank will post 9.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Preferred Bank Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 9th will be issued a $0.75 dividend. This is an increase from Preferred Bank's previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. Preferred Bank's payout ratio is presently 30.06%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Stephens lowered Preferred Bank from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th.

About Preferred Bank

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.