Empowered Funds LLC Takes $3.99 Million Position in Peoples Financial Services Corp. $PFIS

Empowered Funds LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Peoples Financial Services Corp. (NASDAQ:PFIS) during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund purchased 60,068 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $3,987,000.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Royal Bank of Canada lifted its stake in Peoples Financial Services by 7.4% in the 4th quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 2,559 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $125,000 after purchasing an additional 176 shares during the last quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co boosted its position in Peoples Financial Services by 27.7% in the fourth quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 941 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 204 shares in the last quarter. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Peoples Financial Services by 0.5% during the second quarter. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 44,933 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,982,000 after buying an additional 227 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Peoples Financial Services by 4.4% during the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 5,513 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $245,000 after buying an additional 234 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its stake in shares of Peoples Financial Services by 59.1% during the second quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 969 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $48,000 after buying an additional 360 shares during the last quarter. 31.67% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Peoples Financial Services Stock Performance

Peoples Financial Services stock opened at $68.67 on Tuesday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $68.94 and a 200-day moving average of $61.10. Peoples Financial Services Corp. has a 1 year low of $43.64 and a 1 year high of $73.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 0.99 and a quick ratio of 0.99. The company has a market capitalization of $687.39 million, a P/E ratio of 7.78 and a beta of 0.75.

Peoples Financial Services (NASDAQ:PFIS) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.48 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.64 by ($0.16). Peoples Financial Services had a return on equity of 17.27% and a net margin of 20.66%.The business had revenue of $97.74 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $52.35 million.

Peoples Financial Services Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.625 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 31st. This represents a $2.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.6%. Peoples Financial Services’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 28.31%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on PFIS. Hovde Group increased their price target on Peoples Financial Services from $61.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Peoples Financial Services in a report on Tuesday, June 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $65.50.

About Peoples Financial Services

Peoples Financial Services Corporation is the bank holding company for PeoplesBank, a community-focused commercial bank headquartered in Holyoke, Massachusetts. Through its wholly owned subsidiary, PeoplesBank, PFIS offers a full suite of banking services to individuals, small businesses, and commercial clients. These services include deposit accounts, consumer and residential mortgage lending, commercial and industrial lending, and treasury management solutions.

Founded in 1842, PeoplesBank has grown organically and through selective acquisitions to become a prominent community bank in Western Massachusetts and Northern Connecticut.