Westwood Holdings Group Inc. Sells 12,667 Shares of Provident Financial Services, Inc. (NYSE:PFS)

Westwood Holdings Group Inc. lowered its position in shares of Provident Financial Services, Inc. (NYSE:PFS) by 13.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 81,977 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock after selling 12,667 shares during the period. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. owned approximately 0.06% of Provident Financial Services worth $1,547,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. State of Wyoming increased its position in shares of Provident Financial Services by 96.8% during the fourth quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 11,066 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $209,000 after acquiring an additional 5,442 shares in the last quarter. Systematic Financial Management LP increased its position in shares of Provident Financial Services by 4.6% during the fourth quarter. Systematic Financial Management LP now owns 1,976,235 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $37,292,000 after acquiring an additional 87,612 shares in the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Provident Financial Services by 44.2% during the fourth quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 38,035 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $718,000 after acquiring an additional 11,664 shares in the last quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP grew its position in Provident Financial Services by 7.9% in the 4th quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 24,871 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $469,000 after purchasing an additional 1,829 shares during the period. Finally, Man Group plc bought a new stake in Provident Financial Services in the 4th quarter worth approximately $296,000. Institutional investors own 71.97% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have commented on PFS shares. Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on shares of Provident Financial Services from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. StockNews.com raised shares of Provident Financial Services from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 15th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price on shares of Provident Financial Services from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $24.25.

Provident Financial Services Trading Down 0.3%

NYSE:PFS opened at $17.30 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95. Provident Financial Services, Inc. has a 12 month low of $13.07 and a 12 month high of $22.24. The company has a market cap of $2.26 billion, a PE ratio of 16.48 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $16.57 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $18.37.

Provident Financial Services (NYSE:PFS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The savings and loans company reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.47 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $208.76 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $206.86 million. Provident Financial Services had a net margin of 10.13% and a return on equity of 5.60%. The company’s revenue was up 82.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.43 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Provident Financial Services, Inc. will post 2.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Provident Financial Services Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. Provident Financial Services’s dividend payout ratio is presently 86.49%.

About Provident Financial Services

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.