Preferred Bank Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.80 (NASDAQ:PFBC)

Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, September 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, October 5th will be given a dividend of 0.80 per share by the bank on Monday, October 19th. This represents a c) dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, October 5th.

Preferred Bank has raised its dividend payment by an average of 0.2%per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 5 years. Preferred Bank has a payout ratio of 32.7% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Preferred Bank to earn $10.94 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $3.20 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 29.3%.

Preferred Bank Stock Performance

Preferred Bank stock opened at $106.18 on Thursday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $104.95 and its 200 day moving average price is $98.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 1.08. The company has a market capitalization of $1.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.71 and a beta of 0.54. Preferred Bank has a 12-month low of $81.50 and a 12-month high of $112.26.

Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The bank reported $2.78 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.65 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $73.47 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $73.60 million. Preferred Bank had a return on equity of 17.27% and a net margin of 26.54%. On average, research analysts forecast that Preferred Bank will post 10.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have commented on PFBC. Stephens increased their price objective on shares of Preferred Bank from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Preferred Bank in a research note on Friday, September 4th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $106.25.

Preferred Bank Company Profile

Preferred Bank (NASDAQ: PFBC) is a California-chartered commercial bank headquartered in Los Angeles. Founded in 1991, the bank provides banking and financial services to businesses, professionals and individuals, with a particular focus on small and middle-market companies and the Chinese-American community.

The bank offers commercial and industrial loans, commercial real estate financing, construction loans, small business lending, residential mortgage loans and consumer credit. Its deposit products include checking, savings, money market and time deposit accounts, along with treasury management, online banking and other cash-management services for business customers.

Preferred Bank serves customers through a network of branches and offices in California and the New York metropolitan area, including markets in Southern California, Northern California and communities in the New York region.