Los Angeles Capital Management LLC Trims Stake in Peoples Financial Services Corp. (NASDAQ:PFIS)

Los Angeles Capital Management LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Peoples Financial Services Corp. (NASDAQ:PFIS) by 10.2% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 6,140 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 700 shares during the period. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Peoples Financial Services were worth $288,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Peoples Financial Services by 2.1% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 322,786 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $13,915,000 after buying an additional 6,776 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Peoples Financial Services by 5.0% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 191,934 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $8,740,000 after purchasing an additional 9,122 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in shares of Peoples Financial Services by 19.9% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 47,178 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,148,000 after purchasing an additional 7,831 shares in the last quarter. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Peoples Financial Services by 413.0% in the third quarter. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 38,632 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,811,000 after purchasing an additional 31,102 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers increased its stake in shares of Peoples Financial Services by 14.5% in the second quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 12,450 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $567,000 after purchasing an additional 1,576 shares in the last quarter. 31.67% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Peoples Financial Services Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PFIS opened at $52.37 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 0.92. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $47.54 and a 200 day moving average price of $44.58. Peoples Financial Services Corp. has a fifty-two week low of $36.26 and a fifty-two week high of $55.64. The firm has a market cap of $522.44 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.84 and a beta of 0.50.

Peoples Financial Services (NASDAQ:PFIS) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The financial services provider reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.08 by $0.56. Peoples Financial Services had a net margin of 3.00% and a return on equity of 8.50%. The firm had revenue of $74.01 million during the quarter. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Peoples Financial Services Corp. will post 3.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Peoples Financial Services Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Investors of record on Friday, November 29th will be given a dividend of $0.618 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 29th. This represents a $2.47 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.72%. Peoples Financial Services’s dividend payout ratio is 239.81%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on PFIS. Hovde Group increased their price objective on shares of Peoples Financial Services from $48.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. StockNews.com raised shares of Peoples Financial Services from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th.

Peoples Financial Services Company 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.