Provident Financial Services, Inc (NYSE:PFS) Stock Now Rated “Moderate Buy” by Sell-Side Brokerages

Shares of Provident Financial Services, Inc (NYSE:PFS) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the seven brokerages that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, four have issued a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $26.79.

PFS has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. DA Davidson set a $26.00 target price on Provident Financial Services in a report on Friday, July 31st. Weiss Ratings upgraded Provident Financial Services from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Friday, October 9th. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $29.00 price target (up from $26.00) on shares of Provident Financial Services in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $28.00 price target (up from $26.00) on shares of Provident Financial Services in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. Finally, Hovde Group increased their price objective on shares of Provident Financial Services from $26.50 to $28.50 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 31st.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Thomas Shara sold 40,266 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.06, for a total transaction of $928,533.96. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 382,911 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,829,927.66. The trade was a 9.52% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Vito Giannola sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.36, for a total transaction of $487,200.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 56,424 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,374,488.64. The trade was a 26.17% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 79,166 shares of company stock worth $1,856,284. Company insiders own 3.02% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Provident Financial Services

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in Provident Financial Services by 3.3% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 8,070,734 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $170,775,000 after purchasing an additional 256,540 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new stake in Provident Financial Services in the second quarter worth about $36,916,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in Provident Financial Services by 6.9% in the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 998,562 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $23,606,000 after buying an additional 64,251 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in Provident Financial Services by 10.7% in the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 827,266 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $17,505,000 after buying an additional 80,147 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE raised its stake in shares of Provident Financial Services by 23.4% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 624,648 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $13,218,000 after buying an additional 118,432 shares during the period. 71.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Provident Financial Services Price Performance

NYSE PFS opened at $22.98 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $22.84 and its 200-day moving average price is $22.69. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.66 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 1.03. Provident Financial Services has a 1-year low of $17.70 and a 1-year high of $25.49.

Provident Financial Services (NYSE:PFS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 29th. The savings and loans company reported $0.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.61 by $0.04. Provident Financial Services had a return on equity of 10.82% and a net margin of 21.73%. The firm had revenue of $238.54 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $235.31 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.55 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Provident Financial Services will post 2.40 earnings per share for the current year.

Provident Financial Services Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 27th. Investors of record on Friday, November 13th will be given a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.2%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 13th. Provident Financial Services’s payout ratio is 40.34%.

About Provident Financial Services

Provident Financial Services, Inc is the parent company of Provident Bank, a full-service community and commercial bank serving individuals, businesses and organizations. The bank provides checking and savings accounts, certificates of deposit, treasury management and other deposit products, along with residential mortgage, commercial real estate, commercial business and consumer lending.

Through its banking and wealth-management operations, Provident offers services that may include investment management, trust and fiduciary services, financial planning and insurance solutions.