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

Research analysts at Stephens initiated coverage on shares of PennyMac Financial Services (NYSE:PFSI) in a report released on Friday, MarketBeat 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 would indicate a potential upside of 10.74% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other analysts have also issued reports on PFSI. BTIG Research restated a “buy” rating on shares of PennyMac Financial Services in a report on Friday, January 30th. Barclays dropped their price target on PennyMac Financial Services from $136.00 to $116.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 6th. Zacks Research raised PennyMac Financial Services from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, April 3rd. Weiss Ratings lowered PennyMac Financial Services from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised PennyMac Financial Services from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $115.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 16th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, PennyMac Financial Services presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $127.25.

PennyMac Financial Services Stock Performance

NYSE:PFSI opened at $90.30 on Friday. PennyMac Financial Services has a twelve month low of $82.65 and a twelve month high of $160.36. The company has a current ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 0.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.32. The company has a 50-day moving average of $89.66 and a 200-day moving average of $114.89. The firm has a market cap of $4.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.71, a price-to-earnings-growth 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 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.23 by ($1.26). The business had revenue of $538.01 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $639.81 million. PennyMac Financial Services had a return on equity of 10.20% and a net margin of 24.48%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.95 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that PennyMac Financial Services will post 11.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other PennyMac Financial Services news, CEO David Spector sold 12,436 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.39, for a total transaction of $1,074,346.04. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 529,401 shares in the company, valued at $45,734,952.39. This represents a 2.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Daniel Stanley Perotti sold 2,925 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.30, for a total value of $272,902.50. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 213,550 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,924,215. This represents a 1.35% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders have sold 51,280 shares of company stock worth $4,630,853. 15.80% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of PennyMac Financial Services

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in PennyMac Financial Services by 3.8% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 24,012 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,404,000 after buying an additional 875 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its stake in PennyMac Financial Services by 4.6% in the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 15,923 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,594,000 after acquiring an additional 706 shares during the period. Intech Investment Management LLC raised its position in PennyMac Financial Services by 5.8% in the first quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 15,382 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,540,000 after purchasing an additional 840 shares in the last quarter. Strs Ohio acquired a new position in PennyMac Financial Services in the first quarter worth about $30,000. Finally, Prudential Financial Inc. lifted its stake in PennyMac Financial Services by 82.8% during the second quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 4,084 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $413,000 after purchasing an additional 1,850 shares during the period. 57.87% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.