PennyMac Financial Services (NYSE:PFSI) Earns Buy Rating from Analysts at Jefferies Financial Group

Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of PennyMac Financial Services (NYSE:PFSI) in a report issued on Friday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The firm issued a buy rating and a $160.00 price objective on the real estate investment trust’s stock.

A number of other brokerages also recently issued reports on PFSI. Zacks Research raised shares of PennyMac Financial Services from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 6th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on PennyMac Financial Services from $115.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Barclays boosted their price target on PennyMac Financial Services from $136.00 to $139.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. UBS Group upped their price target on PennyMac Financial Services from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 24th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of PennyMac Financial Services in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $142.43.

PennyMac Financial Services Price Performance

NYSE PFSI opened at $133.91 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $127.98 and a 200-day moving average price of $114.33. PennyMac Financial Services has a 52 week low of $85.74 and a 52 week high of $137.53. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.01. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.43 and a beta of 1.58.

PennyMac Financial Services (NYSE:PFSI) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 21st. The real estate investment trust reported $3.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.98 by $0.39. PennyMac Financial Services had a net margin of 25.21% and a return on equity of 11.69%. The company had revenue of $632.90 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $573.46 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.30 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 53.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that PennyMac Financial Services will post 13.77 earnings per share for the current year.

PennyMac Financial Services Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 17th were paid a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 17th. PennyMac Financial Services’s dividend payout ratio is presently 12.93%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Daniel Stanley Perotti sold 26,011 shares of PennyMac Financial Services stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $131.36, for a total transaction of $3,416,804.96. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 9,964 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,308,871.04. This trade represents a 72.30% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Doug Jones sold 23,453 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $127.56, for a total value of $2,991,664.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 19,056 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,430,783.36. This represents a 55.17% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 218,129 shares of company stock valued at $28,164,517 over the last three months. Insiders own 15.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On PennyMac Financial Services

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Maverick Capital Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of PennyMac Financial Services by 150.4% in the first quarter. Maverick Capital Ltd. now owns 8,073 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $808,000 after buying an additional 4,849 shares in the last quarter. Creative Planning grew its stake in PennyMac Financial Services by 89.5% during the second quarter. Creative Planning now owns 13,495 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,345,000 after acquiring an additional 6,374 shares in the last quarter. Conversant Capital LLC increased its holdings in PennyMac Financial Services by 25.1% in the 1st quarter. Conversant Capital LLC now owns 244,150 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $24,442,000 after acquiring an additional 49,000 shares during the last quarter. Vise Technologies Inc. purchased a new stake in PennyMac Financial Services in the 2nd quarter worth $383,000. Finally, Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in PennyMac Financial Services in the 1st quarter worth $10,550,000. Institutional investors own 57.87% of the company’s stock.

PennyMac Financial Services Company Profile

PennyMac Financial Services, Inc (NYSE: PFSI) is a leading mortgage banking company based in Westlake Village, California. The firm operates through two primary business segments: Production and Mortgage Servicing Rights (MSR). In its Production segment, PennyMac originates residential mortgage loans through retail, wholesale and correspondent channels, focusing on both purchase and refinance transactions. The MSR segment involves the acquisition and servicing of mortgage loans, whereby the company earns fees for managing loan portfolios on behalf of investors.

Since its founding in 2008, PennyMac has grown through a combination of organic origination and strategic acquisition of servicing rights, positioning itself as one of the largest residential mortgage loan servicers in the United States.