Provident Financial Services, Inc. (NYSE:PFS) Given Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Shares of Provident Financial Services, Inc. (NYSE:PFS) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the four brokerages that are covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $17.50.

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on PFS shares. DA Davidson dropped their price objective on Provident Financial Services from $17.00 to $15.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 28th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on Provident Financial Services from $19.00 to $18.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. TheStreet cut Provident Financial Services from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on Provident Financial Services from $20.00 to $17.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 26th.

Insider Transactions at Provident Financial Services

In other news, Director Robert Mcnerney sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 30th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $169,223.50. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 4.29% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. increased its position in Provident Financial Services by 23.6% during the 1st quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 18,643 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $272,000 after buying an additional 3,557 shares in the last quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd acquired a new position in Provident Financial Services during the 4th quarter valued at about $336,000. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its position in Provident Financial Services by 7.2% during the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 71,543 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $1,290,000 after buying an additional 4,789 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its position in Provident Financial Services by 84.9% during the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 650,642 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $11,731,000 after buying an additional 298,744 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mendon Capital Advisors Corp acquired a new position in Provident Financial Services during the 4th quarter valued at about $5,873,000. 71.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Provident Financial Services Price Performance

Shares of Provident Financial Services stock opened at $14.46 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $1.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.04 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. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $14.75 and a 200-day moving average price of $15.66. Provident Financial Services has a one year low of $13.21 and a one year high of $19.62.

Provident Financial Services (NYSE:PFS) last announced its earnings results on Friday, April 19th. The savings and loans company reported $0.43 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $114.48 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $114.50 million. Provident Financial Services had a return on equity of 7.35% and a net margin of 16.78%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 12.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.54 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Provident Financial Services will post 1.63 EPS for the current year.

Provident Financial Services Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 29th will be given a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.64%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 26th. Provident Financial Services’s payout ratio is 60.00%.

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.