New York State Teachers Retirement System Has $360,000 Stock Holdings in Provident Financial Services, Inc. (NYSE:PFS)

New York State Teachers Retirement System trimmed its holdings in shares of Provident Financial Services, Inc. (NYSE:PFS) by 6.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 19,982 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock after selling 1,400 shares during the period. New York State Teachers Retirement System’s holdings in Provident Financial Services were worth $360,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Provident Financial Services in the 4th quarter valued at about $15,922,000. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Provident Financial Services by 13.4% in the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,953,765 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $75,833,000 after purchasing an additional 466,497 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in Provident Financial Services by 60.2% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,073,084 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $25,110,000 after purchasing an additional 403,067 shares during the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Provident Financial Services in the 3rd quarter valued at about $5,058,000. Finally, Balyasny Asset Management L.P. lifted its stake in Provident Financial Services by 33.0% in the 1st quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 737,627 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $14,148,000 after purchasing an additional 182,896 shares during the last quarter. 71.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Provident Financial Services

In other news, Director Robert Mcnerney sold 5,000 shares of the firm’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 transaction, the director now directly owns 9,475 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $169,223.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 4.29% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Provident Financial Services Stock Up 1.0 %

Provident Financial Services stock opened at $13.75 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $1.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.04 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a quick ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. Provident Financial Services, Inc. has a twelve month low of $13.22 and a twelve month high of $19.62. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $14.80 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $15.67.

Provident Financial Services (NYSE:PFS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 26th. The savings and loans company reported $0.36 earnings per share 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 company had revenue of $114.76 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $114.30 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.66 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Provident Financial Services, Inc. will post 1.63 EPS for the current year.

Provident Financial Services Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 8th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.98%. Provident Financial Services’s dividend payout ratio is presently 56.14%.

Provident Financial Services 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.