Invesco Ltd. Trims Stock Position in Peoples Financial Services Corp. $PFIS

Invesco Ltd. decreased its position in Peoples Financial Services Corp. (NASDAQ:PFIS) by 8.5% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 9,272 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 866 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. owned about 0.09% of Peoples Financial Services worth $412,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PFIS. First Trust Advisors LP purchased a new position in Peoples Financial Services in the fourth quarter valued at $310,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in Peoples Financial Services by 4.5% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 232,031 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $11,876,000 after buying an additional 9,889 shares in the last quarter. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL purchased a new position in Peoples Financial Services in the fourth quarter valued at $377,000. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in Peoples Financial Services by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 82,780 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,237,000 after buying an additional 1,618 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE increased its holdings in Peoples Financial Services by 31.0% in the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 12,276 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $628,000 after buying an additional 2,903 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 31.67% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Peoples Financial Services

In other Peoples Financial Services news, Director Richard S. Lochen, Jr. acquired 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 6th. The stock was bought at an average price of $47.67 per share, with a total value of $47,670.00. Following the purchase, the director owned 18,319 shares in the company, valued at approximately $873,266.73. The trade was a 5.77% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 8.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Peoples Financial Services from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, August 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $53.00.

Peoples Financial Services Stock Down 1.2%

Shares of NASDAQ PFIS opened at $52.94 on Friday. Peoples Financial Services Corp. has a 12-month low of $38.90 and a 12-month high of $59.70. The stock has a market cap of $528.87 million, a PE ratio of 15.80 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The company has a 50-day moving average of $51.07 and a 200 day moving average of $47.98.

Peoples Financial Services (NASDAQ:PFIS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The financial services provider reported $1.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.48 by $0.21. Peoples Financial Services had a net margin of 11.80% and a return on equity of 12.20%. The company had revenue of $48.44 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $46.75 million. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Peoples Financial Services Corp. will post 5.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Peoples Financial Services Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Investors of record on Friday, August 29th will be paid a dividend of $0.6175 per share. This represents a $2.47 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 29th. Peoples Financial Services’s dividend payout ratio is currently 73.73%.

Peoples Financial Services Profile

Peoples Financial Services Corp. operates as the bank holding company for Peoples Security Bank and Trust Company that provides various commercial and retail banking services. The company accepts money market, negotiable order of withdrawal, savings, individual retirement, demand deposit, and certificates of deposit accounts.