Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC) Sees Large Decrease in Short Interest

Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC - Get Free Report) was the target of a large drop in short interest in 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. Currently, 7.8% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 71,100 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 13.5 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Preferred Bank

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Preferred Bank by 2.7% during the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 73,319 shares of the bank's stock worth $5,629,000 after purchasing an additional 1,927 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Preferred Bank during the 1st quarter worth about $786,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its stake in shares of Preferred Bank by 78.3% during the 1st quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 15,564 shares of the bank's stock worth $1,195,000 after purchasing an additional 6,833 shares during the last quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP boosted its stake in shares of Preferred Bank by 16.5% during the 1st quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 23,556 shares of the bank's stock worth $1,808,000 after purchasing an additional 3,331 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Texas Permanent School Fund Corp boosted its stake in shares of Preferred Bank by 1.6% during the 1st quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 10,964 shares of the bank's stock worth $842,000 after purchasing an additional 169 shares during the last quarter. 72.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Preferred Bank Price Performance

NASDAQ:PFBC traded up $3.26 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $85.30. 58,444 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 82,566. 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 firm's 50 day simple moving average is $80.75 and its 200 day simple moving average is $78.43. Preferred Bank has a 1 year low of $58.52 and a 1 year high of $91.67. The company has a market cap of $1.23 billion, a PE ratio of 8.55 and a beta of 0.95.

Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The bank reported $2.46 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.39 by $0.07. Preferred Bank had a net margin of 26.20% and a return on equity of 19.01%. The firm had revenue of $132.88 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $68.80 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.71 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Preferred Bank will post 9.71 EPS for the current year.

Preferred Bank Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, October 21st. Shareholders of record on Monday, October 7th were issued a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, October 7th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.28%. Preferred Bank's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 28.06%.

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.