Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Cuts Stake in Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System lowered its position in shares of Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC) by 3.2% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 6,000 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 200 shares during the quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Preferred Bank were worth $482,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Copeland Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Preferred Bank during the 3rd quarter worth $54,000. Point72 DIFC Ltd grew its stake in shares of Preferred Bank by 69.9% during the 2nd 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. CWM LLC grew its stake in shares of Preferred Bank by 96.4% during the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,043 shares of the bank’s stock worth $79,000 after purchasing an additional 512 shares during the period. Point72 Asset Management L.P. grew its stake in shares of Preferred Bank by 35.1% during the 2nd quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,486 shares of the bank’s stock worth $112,000 after purchasing an additional 386 shares during the period. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new position in shares of Preferred Bank during the 1st quarter worth $118,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.77% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on PFBC shares. Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of Preferred Bank from $88.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Stephens upped their price target on shares of Preferred Bank from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd.

Preferred Bank Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PFBC opened at $84.83 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $1.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.50 and a beta of 0.94. Preferred Bank has a 52 week low of $59.96 and a 52 week high of $91.67. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $81.43 and its 200 day moving average price is $79.01. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20.

Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 21st. The bank reported $2.46 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.39 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $132.88 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 in the prior year, the company earned $2.71 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Preferred Bank will post 9.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Preferred Bank Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, October 21st. Investors of record on Monday, October 7th were paid a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, October 7th. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.30%. Preferred Bank’s payout ratio is 28.06%.

Preferred Bank 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.