Provident Financial Services, Inc $PFS Shares Sold by Voya Investment Management LLC

Voya Investment Management LLC lowered its stake in Provident Financial Services, Inc (NYSE:PFS) by 9.0% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 34,608 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock after selling 3,423 shares during the quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Provident Financial Services were worth $594,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PFS. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its stake in Provident Financial Services by 22.2% in the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 241,627 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $4,560,000 after acquiring an additional 43,849 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in Provident Financial Services by 9,296.7% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 25,841 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $444,000 after acquiring an additional 25,566 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in Provident Financial Services in the 1st quarter valued at $428,000. Handelsbanken Fonder AB grew its stake in Provident Financial Services by 23.1% in the 1st quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 32,474 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $558,000 after acquiring an additional 6,100 shares during the period. Finally, Byrne Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Provident Financial Services by 193.8% in the 1st quarter. Byrne Asset Management LLC now owns 2,938 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $50,000 after acquiring an additional 1,938 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.97% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Provident Financial Services

In other Provident Financial Services news, EVP James A. Christy sold 3,000 shares of Provident Financial Services stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.90, for a total transaction of $59,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 39,633 shares in the company, valued at $788,696.70. This trade represents a 7.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director John Pugliese sold 25,000 shares of Provident Financial Services stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.91, for a total transaction of $497,750.00. Following the sale, the director owned 87,907 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,750,228.37. This represents a 22.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 3.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. DA Davidson lifted their price target on shares of Provident Financial Services from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Raymond James Financial began coverage on shares of Provident Financial Services in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. They set a “strong-buy” rating and a $21.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Hovde Group lifted their target price on shares of Provident Financial Services from $22.50 to $23.50 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and four have assigned a Buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Provident Financial Services has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $22.70.

Provident Financial Services Stock Down 0.2%

NYSE PFS opened at $19.52 on Friday. Provident Financial Services, Inc has a 52 week low of $14.34 and a 52 week high of $22.24. The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $19.19 and its 200-day simple moving average is $17.69. The firm has a market cap of $2.55 billion, a PE ratio of 11.03 and a beta of 0.94.

Provident Financial Services (NYSE:PFS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The savings and loans company reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.50 by $0.05. Provident Financial Services had a return on equity of 8.80% and a net margin of 16.97%.The business had revenue of $214.17 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $213.39 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.11) EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Provident Financial Services, Inc will post 2.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Provident Financial Services Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 15th were issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.9%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 15th. Provident Financial Services’s payout ratio is currently 54.24%.

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.