Basswood Capital Management L.L.C. Sells 27,617 Shares of PennyMac Financial Services, Inc. $PFSI

Basswood Capital Management L.L.C. cut its holdings in PennyMac Financial Services, Inc. (NYSE:PFSI) by 4.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 550,927 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 27,617 shares during the period. PennyMac Financial Services comprises approximately 2.9% of Basswood Capital Management L.L.C.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest holding. Basswood Capital Management L.L.C.’s holdings in PennyMac Financial Services were worth $72,634,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of PennyMac Financial Services by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,832,737 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $373,468,000 after purchasing an additional 12,782 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of PennyMac Financial Services by 18.3% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,463,096 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $181,248,000 after purchasing an additional 226,581 shares during the last quarter. 140 Summer Partners LP acquired a new stake in shares of PennyMac Financial Services in the third quarter valued at approximately $55,268,000. American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in shares of PennyMac Financial Services by 7.5% in the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 429,403 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $53,195,000 after purchasing an additional 30,015 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its holdings in shares of PennyMac Financial Services by 43.4% in the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 400,788 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $39,935,000 after purchasing an additional 121,382 shares during the last quarter. 57.87% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at PennyMac Financial Services

In other PennyMac Financial Services news, CEO David Spector sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.99, for a total value of $879,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 60,604 shares in the company, valued at $5,332,545.96. The trade was a 14.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Daniel Stanley Perotti sold 2,925 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.50, for a total transaction of $255,937.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 210,625 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,429,687.50. This represents a 1.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 22,925 shares of company stock worth $2,064,138. Corporate insiders own 15.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on PFSI shares. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of PennyMac Financial Services from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 9th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of PennyMac Financial Services from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of PennyMac Financial Services from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of PennyMac Financial Services from $110.00 to $100.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Barclays lowered their target price on shares of PennyMac Financial Services from $116.00 to $107.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, May 11th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $122.75.

PennyMac Financial Services Price Performance

Shares of PFSI opened at $81.54 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $4.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.66, a PEG ratio of 0.53 and a beta of 1.44. PennyMac Financial Services, Inc. has a 1-year low of $77.67 and a 1-year high of $160.36. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $87.63 and its 200 day simple moving average is $105.73. The company has a current ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.63.

PennyMac Financial Services (NYSE:PFSI) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.19 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.22 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $544.98 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $546.17 million. PennyMac Financial Services had a return on equity of 10.93% and a net margin of 23.47%.PennyMac Financial Services’s quarterly revenue was up 26.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.42 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that PennyMac Financial Services, Inc. will post 10.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PennyMac Financial Services Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 28th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 18th were issued a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.5%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 18th. PennyMac Financial Services’s payout ratio is currently 12.75%.

About PennyMac Financial Services

PennyMac Financial Services, Inc (NYSE: PFSI) is a leading mortgage banking company based in Westlake Village, California. The firm operates through two primary business segments: Production and Mortgage Servicing Rights (MSR). In its Production segment, PennyMac originates residential mortgage loans through retail, wholesale and correspondent channels, focusing on both purchase and refinance transactions. The MSR segment involves the acquisition and servicing of mortgage loans, whereby the company earns fees for managing loan portfolios on behalf of investors.

Since its founding in 2008, PennyMac has grown through a combination of organic origination and strategic acquisition of servicing rights, positioning itself as one of the largest residential mortgage loan servicers in the United States.