Preferred Bank Increases Dividend to $0.75 Per Share

On December 26th, 2024, Preferred Bank (NASDAQ:PFBC) announced an increase in its quarterly dividend to $0.75 per share. Stockholders on record as of January 9th will receive this dividend on January 23rd. This marks a $3.00 annual dividend, translating to a yield of 3.43%. The increase reflects a rise from the previous dividend of $0.70.

Preferred Bank has consistently raised its dividend by an average of 22.4% annually over the past three years. The current payout ratio is 31.3%, indicating that earnings sufficiently cover the dividend payments. Analysts forecast that the bank will earn $8.82 per share in the upcoming year, suggesting a future payout ratio of 31.7%, which should allow it to maintain its $2.80 annual dividend.

Stock Performance of Preferred Bank

The stock opened at $87.34 on Friday. Over the past year, Preferred Bank's share price has experienced a low of $66.88 and a high of $99.78. With a market capitalization of $1.26 billion, the bank has a price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 8.75 and a beta of 0.96, indicating moderate volatility compared to the market. Its debt-to-equity ratio stands at 0.20, and both the current ratio and quick ratio are 1.08. The 50-day moving average is $90.40, while the two-hundred day moving average is $83.01.

In its latest quarterly earnings report released on October 21st, Preferred Bank reported earnings per share (EPS) of $2.46, exceeding the consensus estimate of $2.39 by $0.07. The bank achieved a net margin of 26.20% and a return on equity of 19.01%. Revenue for the quarter was $132.88 million, significantly higher than the analysts' expectations of $68.80 million. In the same quarter of the previous year, the bank had reported an EPS of $2.71. Looking ahead, analysts expect Preferred Bank to report EPS of 9.75 for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Update

Recently, Stephens downgraded Preferred Bank’s stock rating from “overweight” to “equal weight” in a research report issued on December 9th.

Overview of Preferred Bank

Preferred Bank offers a range of commercial banking products and services tailored for small to mid-sized businesses, entrepreneurs, real estate developers and investors, as well as high net worth individuals. Its offerings include checking and savings accounts, money market accounts, various types of certificates of deposit, and individual retirement accounts.

Dividend, Earnings, Stocks