Provident Financial Services, Inc (NYSE:PFS) Receives $22.70 Consensus Price Target from Brokerages

Provident Financial Services, Inc (NYSE:PFS) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Buy” from the five brokerages that are covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 1-year target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $22.70.

Several analysts have commented on the stock. Hovde Group raised their price objective on shares of Provident Financial Services from $22.50 to $23.50 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Raymond James Financial assumed coverage on shares of Provident Financial Services in a report on Thursday, June 26th. They issued a “strong-buy” rating and a $21.00 price objective for the company. Finally, DA Davidson raised their price objective on shares of Provident Financial Services from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 28th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director John Pugliese sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.91, for a total transaction of $497,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 87,907 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,750,228.37. This trade represents a 22.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP James A. Christy sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.90, for a total transaction of $59,700.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 39,633 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $788,696.70. This trade represents a 7.04% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 3.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Provident Financial Services

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in Provident Financial Services by 2.7% in the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 649,485 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $11,152,000 after purchasing an additional 16,941 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in Provident Financial Services by 447.3% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,505 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 1,230 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG grew its position in Provident Financial Services by 27.5% in the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 101,830 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $1,922,000 after purchasing an additional 21,993 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its position in Provident Financial Services by 4.0% in the 4th quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 71,649 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $1,352,000 after purchasing an additional 2,728 shares during the period. Finally, XTX Topco Ltd bought a new stake in Provident Financial Services in the 1st quarter worth approximately $242,000. Institutional investors own 71.97% of the company’s stock.

Provident Financial Services Stock Down 1.3%

Shares of NYSE:PFS opened at $19.56 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $19.00 and its 200-day moving average price is $17.56. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.05 and a beta of 0.94. Provident Financial Services has a 12-month low of $14.34 and a 12-month high of $22.24.

Provident Financial Services (NYSE:PFS) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The savings and loans company reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.50 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $214.17 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $213.39 million. Provident Financial Services had a net margin of 16.97% and a return on equity of 8.80%. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted ($0.11) earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Provident Financial Services will post 2.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Provident Financial Services Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 15th were paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 15th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.9%. Provident Financial Services’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 54.24%.

About Provident Financial Services

Provident Financial Services, Inc operates as the bank holding company for Provident Bank that provides various banking products and services to individuals, families, and businesses in the United States. Its deposit products include savings, checking, interest-bearing checking, money market deposit, and certificate of deposit accounts, as well as IRA products.