Provident Financial Services (NYSE:PFS) EVP Sells $487,200.00 in Stock

Provident Financial Services, Inc (NYSE:PFS) EVP Vito Giannola sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.36, for a total value of $487,200.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 56,424 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,374,488.64. The trade was a 26.17% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link.

Provident Financial Services Price Performance

Shares of NYSE PFS opened at $23.72 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $23.90 and its 200 day moving average price is $22.69. The stock has a market cap of $3.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.88 and a beta of 0.78. Provident Financial Services, Inc has a 52 week low of $17.69 and a 52 week high of $25.49. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99.

Provident Financial Services (NYSE:PFS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The savings and loans company reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.56 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $234.96 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $225.57 million. Provident Financial Services had a net margin of 22.15% and a return on equity of 11.00%. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.55 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Provident Financial Services, Inc will post 2.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Provident Financial Services Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 14th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.0%. Provident Financial Services’s payout ratio is 40.00%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Provident Financial Services

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of PFS. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new position in Provident Financial Services during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $36,916,000. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Provident Financial Services by 10.0% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 6,359,098 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $122,603,000 after buying an additional 576,673 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its position in Provident Financial Services by 38.1% in the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,239,628 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $24,483,000 after acquiring an additional 342,301 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Provident Financial Services by 251.3% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 413,107 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $7,242,000 after purchasing an additional 295,521 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Provident Financial Services by 3.3% during the 1st 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 acquiring an additional 256,540 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.97% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PFS has been the topic of a number of research reports. Raymond James Financial raised their price objective on Provident Financial Services from $25.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Provident Financial Services in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $28.00 target price (up from $26.00) on shares of Provident Financial Services in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. DA Davidson set a $26.00 price target on shares of Provident Financial Services in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Finally, Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $29.00 price objective (up from $26.00) on shares of Provident Financial Services in a report on Friday, July 31st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Provident Financial Services presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $26.79.

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.