Teacher Retirement System of Texas Makes New $311,000 Investment in Provident Financial Services, Inc (NYSE:PFS)

Teacher Retirement System of Texas purchased a new position in shares of Provident Financial Services, Inc (NYSE:PFS) during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 18,123 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock, valued at approximately $311,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in PFS. Leigh Baldwin & CO. LLC acquired a new position in shares of Provident Financial Services during the 4th quarter worth $17,447,000. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Provident Financial Services in the 4th quarter valued at about $7,225,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Provident Financial Services in the 4th quarter valued at about $6,994,000. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in Provident Financial Services by 37.7% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 878,493 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $16,577,000 after acquiring an additional 240,522 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Basswood Capital Management L.L.C. grew its stake in Provident Financial Services by 23.8% in the 4th quarter. Basswood Capital Management L.L.C. now owns 1,105,103 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $20,853,000 after acquiring an additional 212,395 shares during the last quarter. 71.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PFS has been the topic of a number of research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on shares of Provident Financial Services from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Raymond James Financial initiated coverage on shares of Provident Financial Services in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. They issued a “strong-buy” rating and a $21.00 price objective on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $23.60.

Insider Transactions at Provident Financial Services

In other Provident Financial Services news, Chairman Christopher P. Martin sold 55,668 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.07, for a total value of $950,252.76. Following the transaction, the chairman directly owned 601,050 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,259,923.50. This represents a 8.48% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 3.10% of the company’s stock.

Provident Financial Services Price Performance

NYSE:PFS opened at $18.62 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $2.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.77 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05. The company’s 50-day moving average is $17.39 and its two-hundred day moving average is $17.47. Provident Financial Services, Inc has a 12-month low of $14.34 and a 12-month high of $22.24.

Provident Financial Services (NYSE:PFS) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The savings and loans company reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $208.76 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $206.86 million. Provident Financial Services had a net margin of 11.45% and a return on equity of 6.38%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 82.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.43 EPS. Research analysts expect that Provident Financial Services, Inc will post 2.14 EPS for the current year.

Provident Financial Services Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 16th were issued a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 16th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.16%. Provident Financial Services’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 86.49%.

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.