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

Shares of Provident Financial Services, Inc (NYSE:PFS) have received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eight brokerages that are covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, four have assigned a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $26.7857.

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Raymond James Financial boosted their price objective on Provident Financial Services from $25.00 to $27.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 1st. DA Davidson set a $26.00 target price on Provident Financial Services in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $29.00 target price (up from $26.00) on shares of Provident Financial Services in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Stephens began coverage on Provident Financial Services in a research note on Monday, June 8th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $24.00 price target for the company. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $28.00 target price (up from $26.00) on shares of Provident Financial Services in a report on Monday, August 3rd.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Vito Giannola sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.36, for a total transaction of $487,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 56,424 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,374,488.64. This represents a 26.17% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 3.02% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Provident Financial Services

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of PFS. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position 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. State Street Corp increased its position in Provident Financial Services by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,046,392 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $139,166,000 after purchasing an additional 41,961 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in Provident Financial Services by 5.5% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 6,710,987 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $132,542,000 after purchasing an additional 351,889 shares in the last quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System lifted its position in Provident Financial Services by 2,218.2% during the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 3,310,664 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $78,264,000 after purchasing an additional 3,167,850 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in shares of Provident Financial Services by 15.9% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,578,302 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $31,171,000 after buying an additional 216,567 shares in the last quarter. 71.97% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Provident Financial Services Stock Down 0.5%

PFS opened at $23.59 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.03. Provident Financial Services has a fifty-two week low of $17.69 and a fifty-two week high of $25.49. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $23.91 and its 200 day moving average is $22.69. The stock has a market cap of $3.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.83 and a beta of 0.78.

Provident Financial Services (NYSE:PFS) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The savings and loans company reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.56 by $0.04. Provident Financial Services had a net margin of 22.15% and a return on equity of 11.00%. The company had revenue of $234.96 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $225.57 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.55 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Provident Financial Services will post 2.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Provident Financial Services Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 28th. Investors of record on Friday, August 14th will be given a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.1%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 14th. Provident Financial Services’s payout ratio is currently 40.00%.

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.