Provident Financial Services (NYSE:PFS) Trading Down 4% – Here’s What Happened

Provident Financial Services, Inc (NYSE:PFS)’s stock price traded down 4% on Friday . The company traded as low as $19.08 and last traded at $18.4750. 546,354 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 17% from the average session volume of 661,501 shares. The stock had previously closed at $19.25.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on PFS. DA Davidson cut Provident Financial Services from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, October 20th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Provident Financial Services in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered shares of Provident Financial Services from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, September 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Provident Financial Services has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $22.70.

Provident Financial Services Trading Down 0.3%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.79 and a beta of 0.95. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $18.91 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $18.45.

Provident Financial Services (NYSE:PFS) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 17th. The savings and loans company reported $0.68 EPS for the quarter. Provident Financial Services had a net margin of 18.76% and a return on equity of 9.72%. The company had revenue of $114.54 million during the quarter. Equities research analysts forecast that Provident Financial Services, Inc will post 2.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Provident Financial Services Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 14th will be paid a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 14th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.0%. Provident Financial Services’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 48.98%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director John Pugliese sold 25,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.91, for a total value of $497,750.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 87,907 shares in the company, valued at $1,750,228.37. The trade was a 22.14% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP James A. Christy sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.90, for a total value of $59,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 39,633 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $788,696.70. This represents a 7.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 36,262 shares of company stock valued at $709,058 in the last 90 days. 3.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Provident Financial Services

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in PFS. XTX Topco Ltd purchased a new stake in Provident Financial Services during the first quarter worth about $242,000. EJF Capital LLC grew its position in shares of Provident Financial Services by 50.6% during the 1st quarter. EJF Capital LLC now owns 221,335 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $3,800,000 after acquiring an additional 74,327 shares during the period. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Provident Financial Services by 14.8% during the 1st quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC now owns 452,258 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $7,765,000 after purchasing an additional 58,462 shares during the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its stake in shares of Provident Financial Services by 30.0% during the 1st quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 2,893 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $50,000 after purchasing an additional 667 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in shares of Provident Financial Services by 1.7% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,402,478 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $24,585,000 after purchasing an additional 22,986 shares during the period. 71.97% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Provident Financial Services Company Profile

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.