Provident Financial Services, Inc (NYSE:PFS) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Buy” from Analysts

Provident Financial Services, Inc (NYSE:PFS) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Buy” from the seven research firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, three have issued a buy recommendation and two have given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $23.9167.

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. DA Davidson reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $23.00 target price on shares of Provident Financial Services in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Weiss Ratings raised Provident Financial Services from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $25.00 target price on Provident Financial Services in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Piper Sandler assumed coverage on Provident Financial Services in a research note on Monday, March 16th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $25.00 target price for the company. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on Provident Financial Services from $25.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO George Lista sold 2,556 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $22.40, for a total transaction of $57,254.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 109,262 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,447,468.80. This represents a 2.29% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 3.02% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Provident Financial Services

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of PFS. Key Capital Management INC purchased a new position in Provident Financial Services in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in Provident Financial Services by 358.0% in the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,548 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 1,210 shares in the last quarter. Kemnay Advisory Services Inc. purchased a new position in Provident Financial Services in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Danske Bank A S purchased a new position in Provident Financial Services in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $58,000. Finally, Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Provident Financial Services by 40.9% in the 3rd quarter. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,100 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $60,000 after purchasing an additional 900 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.97% of the company’s stock.

Provident Financial Services Stock Down 1.1%

PFS opened at $22.05 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $21.73 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $21.01. The company has a quick ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03. The company has a market cap of $2.87 billion, a PE ratio of 9.38 and a beta of 0.80. Provident Financial Services has a 52 week low of $15.92 and a 52 week high of $23.98.

Provident Financial Services (NYSE:PFS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The savings and loans company reported $0.61 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.55 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $225.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $225.62 million. Provident Financial Services had a return on equity of 10.98% and a net margin of 21.95%.The firm’s revenue was up 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.49 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Provident Financial Services will post 2.36 EPS for the current year.

Provident Financial Services Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 15th. Provident Financial Services’s dividend payout ratio is 40.85%.

Provident Financial Services declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Monday, January 26th that allows the company to buyback $2.81 million in shares. This buyback authorization allows the savings and loans company to repurchase up to 0.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

About Provident Financial Services

Provident Financial Services, Inc is the bank holding company for Provident Bank, a regional commercial bank headquartered in Jersey City, New Jersey. The company operates a network of full-service branches across New Jersey, the New York metropolitan area and eastern Pennsylvania, offering a range of personal and business banking solutions.

Its core products and services include checking and savings accounts, consumer and residential mortgage loans, commercial real estate financing and small-business lending.