Stephens Initiates Coverage on PennyMac Financial Services (NYSE:PFSI)

Analysts at Stephens assumed coverage on shares of PennyMac Financial Services (NYSE:PFSI) in a note issued to investors on Friday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The firm set an “equal weight” rating and a $100.00 price target on the real estate investment trust’s stock. Stephens’ price target indicates a potential upside of 9.56% from the stock’s current price.

PFSI has been the subject of several other research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of PennyMac Financial Services from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $115.00 price target for the company in a research report on Monday, March 16th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of PennyMac Financial Services from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, April 11th. BTIG Research restated a “buy” rating on shares of PennyMac Financial Services in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Piper Sandler lowered their price target on shares of PennyMac Financial Services from $137.00 to $122.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 2nd. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of PennyMac Financial Services from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, April 3rd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $127.25.

PennyMac Financial Services Stock Up 1.6%

PFSI stock opened at $91.27 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.32, a current ratio of 0.34 and a quick ratio of 0.34. PennyMac Financial Services has a 1-year low of $82.65 and a 1-year high of $160.36. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $89.65 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $114.69. The firm has a market cap of $4.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.81, a PEG ratio of 0.53 and a beta of 1.52.

PennyMac Financial Services (NYSE:PFSI) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.97 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.23 by ($1.26). PennyMac Financial Services had a net margin of 24.48% and a return on equity of 10.20%. The business had revenue of $538.01 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $639.81 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.95 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.4% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that PennyMac Financial Services will post 11.88 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at PennyMac Financial Services

In related news, CEO David Spector sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.83, for a total value of $928,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 70,604 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,554,169.32. This represents a 12.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Daniel Stanley Perotti sold 2,925 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.30, for a total transaction of $272,902.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 213,550 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,924,215. The trade was a 1.35% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders sold 51,280 shares of company stock worth $4,630,853. 15.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On PennyMac Financial Services

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of PFSI. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA lifted its holdings in PennyMac Financial Services by 6.3% in the 1st quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 5,518 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $482,000 after acquiring an additional 329 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its holdings in PennyMac Financial Services by 42.4% in the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 10,829 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $946,000 after acquiring an additional 3,227 shares during the last quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd lifted its holdings in PennyMac Financial Services by 7,600.0% in the 4th quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 231 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 228 shares during the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new stake in PennyMac Financial Services in the 4th quarter valued at about $379,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in PennyMac Financial Services by 7.3% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,569,184 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $206,881,000 after acquiring an additional 106,088 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.87% of the company’s stock.

PennyMac Financial Services Company Profile

PennyMac Financial Services, Inc (NYSE: PFSI) is a leading mortgage banking company based in Westlake Village, California. The firm operates through two primary business segments: Production and Mortgage Servicing Rights (MSR). In its Production segment, PennyMac originates residential mortgage loans through retail, wholesale and correspondent channels, focusing on both purchase and refinance transactions. The MSR segment involves the acquisition and servicing of mortgage loans, whereby the company earns fees for managing loan portfolios on behalf of investors.

Since its founding in 2008, PennyMac has grown through a combination of organic origination and strategic acquisition of servicing rights, positioning itself as one of the largest residential mortgage loan servicers in the United States.