Provident Financial Services, Inc. (NYSE:PFS) Plans Quarterly Dividend of $0.24

Provident Financial Services, Inc. (NYSE:PFS) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, April 24th, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Friday, May 16th will be paid a dividend of 0.24 per share by the savings and loans company on Friday, May 30th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.34%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 16th.

Provident Financial Services has increased its dividend payment by an average of 1.1% annually over the last three years. Provident Financial Services has a payout ratio of 42.1% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Provident Financial Services to earn $2.26 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.96 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 42.5%.

Provident Financial Services Price Performance

PFS stock opened at $17.99 on Wednesday. Provident Financial Services has a 52 week low of $13.07 and a 52 week high of $22.24. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $16.46 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $18.43. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.13 and a beta of 0.84.

Provident Financial Services (NYSE:PFS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The savings and loans company reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.47 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $208.76 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $206.86 million. Provident Financial Services had a net margin of 10.13% and a return on equity of 5.60%. Provident Financial Services’s quarterly revenue was up 82.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.43 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Provident Financial Services will post 2.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently issued reports on PFS. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on shares of Provident Financial Services from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on shares of Provident Financial Services from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 28th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Provident Financial Services from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, February 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Provident Financial Services currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $24.25.

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.