Provident Financial (NASDAQ:PROV) Research Coverage Started at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen assumed coverage on shares of Provident Financial (NASDAQ:PROV) in a report released on Wednesday. The brokerage issued a hold rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

Separately, Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on Provident Financial from $17.00 to $16.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th.

Provident Financial Price Performance

Shares of PROV stock opened at $14.96 on Wednesday. Provident Financial has a 1-year low of $12.01 and a 1-year high of $16.70. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $14.61 and its 200 day moving average is $15.30. The company has a market cap of $100.10 million, a P/E ratio of 16.44 and a beta of 0.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.91, a current ratio of 1.25 and a quick ratio of 1.25.

Provident Financial (NASDAQ:PROV) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 28th. The financial services provider reported $0.28 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.24 by $0.04. Provident Financial had a return on equity of 4.81% and a net margin of 10.39%. The company had revenue of $10.12 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.86 million. Research analysts predict that Provident Financial will post 0.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Provident Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 5th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be paid a $0.14 dividend. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.74%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. Provident Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 57.73%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Provident Financial

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Empowered Funds LLC raised its stake in Provident Financial by 7.9% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 29,084 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $424,000 after buying an additional 2,120 shares during the last quarter. M3F Inc. raised its stake in Provident Financial by 0.5% in the first quarter. M3F Inc. now owns 438,215 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,394,000 after buying an additional 2,215 shares during the last quarter. Black Maple Capital Management LP raised its stake in Provident Financial by 8.9% in the fourth quarter. Black Maple Capital Management LP now owns 31,128 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $495,000 after buying an additional 2,557 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in Provident Financial by 25.9% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 26,464 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $421,000 after buying an additional 5,445 shares during the last quarter. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its stake in Provident Financial by 7.4% in the fourth quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 334,789 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,326,000 after buying an additional 23,117 shares during the last quarter. 71.34% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Provident Financial

Provident Financial Holdings, Inc operates as the holding company for Provident Savings Bank, F.S.B. that provides community banking services to consumers and small to mid-sized businesses in the Inland Empire region of Southern California. The company's deposit products include checking, savings, and money market accounts, as well as time deposits; and loan portfolio consists of single-family, multi-family, commercial real estate, construction, mortgage, commercial business, and consumer loans.