Azora Capital LP Acquires Shares of 32,882 Preferred Bank $PFBC

Azora Capital LP bought a new position in Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund bought 32,882 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $3,105,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in PFBC. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its position in shares of Preferred Bank by 2.9% in the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 7,266 shares of the bank’s stock worth $608,000 after acquiring an additional 202 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC grew its position in shares of Preferred Bank by 19.1% in the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 25,931 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,169,000 after acquiring an additional 4,158 shares in the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC grew its position in shares of Preferred Bank by 81.0% in the 1st quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 66,428 shares of the bank’s stock worth $5,557,000 after acquiring an additional 29,729 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Preferred Bank by 1,224.0% in the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 331 shares of the bank’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 306 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jump Financial LLC grew its position in shares of Preferred Bank by 148.7% in the 2nd quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 14,225 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,231,000 after acquiring an additional 8,505 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.77% of the company’s stock.

Preferred Bank Stock Down 1.8%

Shares of Preferred Bank stock opened at $98.39 on Thursday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $95.16 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $93.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 1.06. The company has a market capitalization of $1.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.21 and a beta of 0.56. Preferred Bank has a 1-year low of $79.65 and a 1-year high of $103.05.

Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The bank reported $2.53 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.48 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $69.62 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $71.76 million. Preferred Bank had a return on equity of 17.52% and a net margin of 26.49%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Preferred Bank will post 10.58 EPS for the current year.

Preferred Bank Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 21st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, July 7th will be paid a $0.80 dividend. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, July 7th. Preferred Bank’s payout ratio is currently 29.96%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on PFBC. Janney Montgomery Scott began coverage on Preferred Bank in a report on Tuesday, February 24th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $100.00 price target on the stock. Piper Sandler raised their price target on Preferred Bank from $105.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. Brean Capital downgraded Preferred Bank from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 24th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised Preferred Bank from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Monday, June 8th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $102.00.

Preferred Bank Profile

Preferred Bank (NASDAQ: PFBC) is a California-chartered commercial bank headquartered in Los Angeles. The institution offers a full range of banking products and services to businesses and individuals, with a particular emphasis on commercial real estate lending, business banking, treasury management and deposit accounts. Preferred Bank operates through branch offices across Southern California and national loan production offices in major U.S. markets.

The bank’s core lending portfolio focuses on commercial real estate acquisition, development and investment properties.