Provident Financial Services (NYSE:PFS) Shares Down 6.9% Following Analyst Downgrade

Provident Financial Services, Inc. (NYSE:PFS) shares were down 6.9% during trading on Wednesday after Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on the stock from $19.00 to $18.00. Royal Bank of Canada currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Provident Financial Services traded as low as $13.57 and last traded at $13.58. Approximately 215,100 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 67% from the average daily volume of 651,790 shares. The stock had previously closed at $14.59.

PFS has been the topic of several other research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on shares of Provident Financial Services from $20.00 to $17.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. TheStreet cut shares of Provident Financial Services from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. Finally, DA Davidson lowered their price target on shares of Provident Financial Services from $17.00 to $15.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Provident Financial Services currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $17.50.

Insider Activity at Provident Financial Services

In related news, Director Robert Mcnerney sold 5,000 shares of Provident Financial Services stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.86, for a total value of $89,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 9,475 shares in the company, valued at approximately $169,223.50. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 4.44% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in shares of Provident Financial Services by 1.2% during the 2nd quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 35,947 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $800,000 after purchasing an additional 430 shares in the last quarter. Advisor Group Holdings Inc. grew its position in shares of Provident Financial Services by 35.7% during the 1st quarter. Advisor Group Holdings Inc. now owns 1,785 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 470 shares in the last quarter. Mariner LLC grew its position in shares of Provident Financial Services by 5.9% during the 3rd quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 13,217 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $202,000 after purchasing an additional 736 shares in the last quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC grew its position in shares of Provident Financial Services by 5.6% during the 4th quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 15,237 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $267,000 after purchasing an additional 803 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Stifel Financial Corp grew its position in shares of Provident Financial Services by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 39,988 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $721,000 after purchasing an additional 1,003 shares in the last quarter. 71.97% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Provident Financial Services Price Performance

The business’s 50-day moving average price is $15.00 and its 200 day moving average price is $15.72. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.02 billion, a PE ratio of 7.89 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a current ratio of 1.07.

Provident Financial Services (NYSE:PFS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 26th. The savings and loans company reported $0.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40 by ($0.04). Provident Financial Services had a return on equity of 7.88% and a net margin of 18.46%. The company had revenue of $114.76 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $114.30 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.66 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Provident Financial Services, Inc. will post 1.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Provident Financial Services Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 23rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 9th were issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.11%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 8th. Provident Financial Services’s dividend payout ratio is currently 56.14%.

Provident Financial Services Company Profile

Provident Financial Services, Inc operates as the bank holding company for Provident Bank that provides various banking products and services to individuals, families, and businesses in the United States. Its deposit products include savings, checking, interest-bearing checking, money market deposit, and certificate of deposit accounts, as well as IRA products.