Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Takes Position in Provident Financial Services, Inc. (NYSE:PFS)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new stake in Provident Financial Services, Inc. (NYSE:PFS) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 37,800 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock, valued at approximately $682,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Provident Financial Services by 1,728.7% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 7,333 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $132,000 after acquiring an additional 6,932 shares in the last quarter. Oak Thistle LLC acquired a new position in Provident Financial Services during the 4th quarter worth approximately $202,000. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC lifted its position in Provident Financial Services by 8.9% during the 3rd quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 14,434 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $221,000 after acquiring an additional 1,184 shares in the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its position in Provident Financial Services by 41.5% during the 3rd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 15,016 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $230,000 after acquiring an additional 4,403 shares in the last quarter. Finally, WBI Investments Inc. lifted its position in Provident Financial Services by 7.4% during the 3rd quarter. WBI Investments Inc. now owns 19,541 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $299,000 after acquiring an additional 1,338 shares in the last quarter. 71.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on PFS. TheStreet lowered Provident Financial Services from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 13th. DA Davidson upgraded Provident Financial Services from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $15.00 to $20.00 in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on Provident Financial Services from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on 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. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Provident Financial Services from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Provident Financial Services presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $19.00.

Provident Financial Services Price Performance

Shares of NYSE PFS opened at $15.09 on Monday. Provident Financial Services, Inc. has a twelve month low of $13.21 and a twelve month high of $19.62. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25. The company has a market capitalization of $1.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.43 and a beta of 1.07. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $14.72 and a 200-day simple moving average of $15.66.

Provident Financial Services (NYSE:PFS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 19th. The savings and loans company reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40 by $0.03. Provident Financial Services had a return on equity of 7.31% and a net margin of 16.78%. The business had revenue of $114.48 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $114.50 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.54 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 12.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Provident Financial Services, Inc. will post 1.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Provident Financial Services Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 29th will be issued a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 26th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.36%. Provident Financial Services’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 60.00%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Robert Mcnerney sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 30th. The stock was 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 directly owns 9,475 shares in the company, valued at approximately $169,223.50. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 4.29% 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.