Provident Financial Services (NYSE:PFS) Stock Price Up 3.1%

Provident Financial Services, Inc. (NYSE:PFS)’s share price traded up 3.1% during mid-day trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as $14.01 and last traded at $13.99. 115,528 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 82% from the average session volume of 655,656 shares. The stock had previously closed at $13.57.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. TheStreet cut shares of Provident Financial Services from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 13th. DA Davidson lowered their price objective on shares of Provident Financial Services from $17.00 to $15.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on shares of Provident Financial Services from $20.00 to $17.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on shares of Provident Financial Services from $19.00 to $18.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Provident Financial Services presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $17.50.

Provident Financial Services Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a current ratio of 1.07. The firm has a market cap of $1.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.22 and a beta of 1.07. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $14.91 and its 200 day moving average price is $15.70.

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

Provident Financial Services Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 23rd. Investors of record on Friday, February 9th were paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 8th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.83%. Provident Financial Services’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 56.14%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Robert Mcnerney sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.86, for a total transaction of $89,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 9,475 shares in the company, valued at approximately $169,223.50. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 4.29% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of PFS. Advisor Group Holdings Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Provident Financial Services by 35.7% in the first quarter. Advisor Group Holdings Inc. now owns 1,785 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $42,000 after buying an additional 470 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Provident Financial Services by 19.3% in the first quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 12,296 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $288,000 after buying an additional 1,986 shares during the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Provident Financial Services by 6.4% in the first quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 67,130 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $1,571,000 after buying an additional 4,031 shares during the last quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. raised its holdings in shares of Provident Financial Services by 45.3% in the first quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. now owns 15,646 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $366,000 after buying an additional 4,877 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can raised its holdings in shares of Provident Financial Services by 69.9% in the first quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 36,093 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $855,000 after buying an additional 14,853 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.97% of the company’s stock.

About Provident Financial Services

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.