Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd Has $1.86 Million Position in Preferred Bank $PFBC

Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd raised its position in Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC) by 86.8% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 20,539 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 9,546 shares during the quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd’s holdings in Preferred Bank were worth $1,863,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in PFBC. Elevation Point Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Preferred Bank during the first quarter worth about $312,000. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new position in Preferred Bank in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $453,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC boosted its position in Preferred Bank by 24.3% during the 4th quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 144,588 shares of the bank’s stock worth $13,957,000 after buying an additional 28,268 shares during the period. DGS Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Preferred Bank during the 4th quarter worth approximately $248,000. Finally, Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Preferred Bank during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,166,000. 72.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have issued reports on PFBC shares. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Preferred Bank from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Monday, June 8th. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of Preferred Bank from $105.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Preferred Bank presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $102.00.

Preferred Bank Stock Up 1.7%

Shares of NASDAQ PFBC opened at $104.96 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The firm has a market cap of $1.51 billion, a PE ratio of 9.83 and a beta of 0.55. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $98.32 and its 200 day simple moving average is $94.29. Preferred Bank has a 12-month low of $81.50 and a 12-month high of $112.26.

Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC) last posted its quarterly 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. Preferred Bank had a net margin of 26.49% and a return on equity of 17.52%. The firm had revenue of $69.62 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $71.76 million. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Preferred Bank will post 10.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Preferred Bank Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, July 7th. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.0%. Preferred Bank’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 29.96%.

About Preferred Bank

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.