Provident Financial (NASDAQ:PROV) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Provident Financial (NASDAQ:PROV) to a hold rating in a research report released on Saturday morning,Wall Street Zen reports.

Several other research firms have also recently commented on PROV. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on Provident Financial from $17.00 to $18.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Zacks Research upgraded Provident Financial from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 26th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Provident Financial from a “hold (c)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Friday, September 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $18.00.

Provident Financial Price Performance

PROV opened at $18.23 on Friday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $18.25 and a 200 day simple moving average of $17.40. The firm has a market cap of $113.57 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.70 and a beta of 0.32. Provident Financial has a twelve month low of $14.95 and a twelve month high of $18.99. The company has a current ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24.

Provident Financial (NASDAQ:PROV) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 28th. The financial services provider reported $0.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.29 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $10.59 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.00 million. Provident Financial had a net margin of 11.16% and a return on equity of 5.23%. Equities research analysts expect that Provident Financial will post 1.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Provident Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 3rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 13th were issued a dividend of $0.14 per share. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 13th. Provident Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 54.37%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Provident Financial

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Raffles Associates LP bought a new position in shares of Provident Financial during the second quarter worth about $6,727,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company bought a new position in Provident Financial during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $5,224,000. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Provident Financial in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $4,844,000. Empowered Funds LLC acquired a new position in shares of Provident Financial in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $595,000. Finally, Susquehanna International Group LLP increased its holdings in shares of Provident Financial by 73.9% in the 2nd quarter. Susquehanna International Group LLP now owns 32,363 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $557,000 after acquiring an additional 13,756 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.34% of the company’s stock.

Provident Financial Company Profile

Provident Financial Holdings, Inc is the holding company for Provident Savings Bank, FSB, a community-oriented savings bank headquartered in Riverside, California. The bank provides deposit and lending services to individuals, families, businesses and real estate professionals, with operations focused primarily on Southern California.

Provident Savings Bank offers checking, savings, money market and certificate of deposit accounts, along with residential mortgage loans, multifamily and commercial real estate loans, construction financing, commercial business loans and consumer lending products.