Phocas Financial Corp. Trims Stock Position in Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC)

Phocas Financial Corp. decreased its position in Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC) by 5.8% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 135,996 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 8,318 shares during the period. Phocas Financial Corp. owned 0.94% of Preferred Bank worth $10,914,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. LSV Asset Management raised its stake in Preferred Bank by 121.0% in the second quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 171,330 shares of the bank’s stock worth $12,934,000 after buying an additional 93,815 shares in the last quarter. Kennedy Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Preferred Bank in the first quarter valued at about $3,449,000. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Preferred Bank by 24.7% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 77,745 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $5,869,000 after buying an additional 15,391 shares in the last quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Preferred Bank by 62.5% in the 3rd quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 31,726 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,546,000 after buying an additional 12,197 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew 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 during the last quarter. 72.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently commented on the company. Stephens increased their price objective 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 boosted their target price on shares of Preferred Bank from $88.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th.

Preferred Bank Price Performance

NASDAQ:PFBC opened at $93.27 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.35 billion, a PE ratio of 9.35 and a beta of 0.94. Preferred Bank has a 52 week low of $61.24 and a 52 week high of $97.21. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $83.55 and its 200-day moving average price is $80.01. The company has a quick ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20.

Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC) last released its earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The bank reported $2.46 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.39 by $0.07. Preferred Bank had a net margin of 26.20% and a return on equity of 19.01%. The business had revenue of $132.88 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $68.80 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.71 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Preferred Bank will post 9.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Preferred Bank Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, October 21st. Stockholders of record on Monday, October 7th were issued a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.00%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, October 7th. Preferred Bank’s payout ratio is 28.06%.

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.