AQR Capital Management LLC Sells 9,087 Shares of Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC)

AQR Capital Management LLC lowered its stake in Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC) by 9.3% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 88,775 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 9,087 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Preferred Bank were worth $7,668,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Picton Mahoney Asset Management grew its position in shares of Preferred Bank by 110.7% in the fourth quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management now owns 550 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 289 shares during the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its position in Preferred Bank by 217.5% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 562 shares of the bank’s stock worth $49,000 after buying an additional 385 shares during the period. R Squared Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Preferred Bank during the fourth quarter worth $65,000. KBC Group NV boosted its position in shares of Preferred Bank by 46.2% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 914 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $79,000 after acquiring an additional 289 shares during the period. Finally, Virtu Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of Preferred Bank in the fourth quarter valued at about $203,000. 72.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PFBC has been the subject of several analyst reports. Stephens reiterated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $91.00 price objective on shares of Preferred Bank in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. DA Davidson cut their price target on Preferred Bank from $95.00 to $90.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on Preferred Bank from $108.00 to $96.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th.

Preferred Bank Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PFBC opened at $81.33 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $81.81 and a 200-day moving average of $86.70. Preferred Bank has a 12 month low of $71.43 and a 12 month high of $99.78. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.17 billion, a PE ratio of 8.45 and a beta of 0.69.

Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 25th. The bank reported $2.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.33 by ($0.10). The company had revenue of $65.96 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $70.78 million. Preferred Bank had a net margin of 25.00% and a return on equity of 17.80%. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.44 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Preferred Bank will post 9.81 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Preferred Bank Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 21st. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 7th were paid a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, April 7th. Preferred Bank’s payout ratio is 31.85%.

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.