Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC) Short Interest Down 14.6% in October

Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a significant drop in short interest during the month of October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totalling 956,800 shares, a drop of 14.6% from the September 30th total of 1,120,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 71,100 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 13.5 days. Currently, 7.8% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Preferred Bank Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PFBC opened at $82.04 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $80.75 and a 200 day moving average price of $78.40. Preferred Bank has a 52 week low of $58.52 and a 52 week high of $91.67. The company has a market cap of $1.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.22 and a beta of 0.95.

Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The bank reported $2.46 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.39 by $0.07. Preferred Bank had a return on equity of 19.01% and a net margin of 26.20%. The business had revenue of $132.88 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $68.80 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.71 EPS. Research analysts predict that Preferred Bank will post 9.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Preferred Bank Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, October 21st. Stockholders of record on Monday, October 7th were paid a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, October 7th. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.41%. Preferred Bank's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 28.06%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Stephens boosted their target price on Preferred Bank from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of Preferred Bank from $88.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Preferred Bank

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. LSV Asset Management increased its stake in Preferred Bank by 121.0% in the 2nd quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 171,330 shares of the bank's stock valued at $12,934,000 after purchasing an additional 93,815 shares in the last quarter. Kennedy Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Preferred Bank in the first quarter valued at $3,449,000. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Preferred Bank by 24.7% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 77,745 shares of the bank's stock worth $5,869,000 after buying an additional 15,391 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Preferred Bank by 1.3% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 868,073 shares of the bank's stock worth $66,642,000 after buying an additional 10,931 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Inspire Investing LLC acquired a new stake in Preferred Bank in the 2nd quarter valued at about $791,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.77% of the company's stock.

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.