Peoples Financial Services (NASDAQ:PFIS) EVP James Chiaro Sells 605 Shares of Company Stock

Peoples Financial Services Corp. (NASDAQ:PFIS) EVP James Chiaro sold 605 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.26, for a total transaction of $44,322.30. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 3,100 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $227,106. The trade was a 16.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink.

Peoples Financial Services Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PFIS traded down $0.70 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $72.24. 51,861 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 58,806. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $70.11 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $62.71. The company has a market cap of $723.12 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.96 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 0.99. Peoples Financial Services Corp. has a 52 week low of $45.95 and a 52 week high of $76.49.

Peoples Financial Services (NASDAQ:PFIS) last released its earnings results on Friday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.90 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.71 by $0.19. The business had revenue of $52.97 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $53.80 million. Peoples Financial Services had a net margin of 20.51% and a return on equity of 11.76%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Peoples Financial Services Corp. will post 6.37 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Peoples Financial Services Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 30th will be issued a $0.6250 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 30th. This represents a $2.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.5%. Peoples Financial Services’s dividend payout ratio is currently 41.39%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Peoples Financial Services

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of PFIS. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Peoples Financial Services in the second quarter worth about $49,412,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Peoples Financial Services by 5.9% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 316,621 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $16,886,000 after acquiring an additional 17,655 shares in the last quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC raised its stake in shares of Peoples Financial Services by 466.7% in the 3rd quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 79,954 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,386,000 after acquiring an additional 65,846 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC bought a new position in shares of Peoples Financial Services in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $3,987,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new stake in Peoples Financial Services in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $3,494,000. 31.67% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on PFIS. Weiss Ratings upgraded Peoples Financial Services from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a report on Wednesday. Hovde Group lifted their price target on Peoples Financial Services from $61.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of Peoples Financial Services to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $65.50.

Peoples Financial Services Company Profile

Peoples Financial Services Corp. is the bank holding company for Peoples Security Bank and Trust Company, a community banking institution headquartered in Scranton, Pennsylvania. The bank provides financial services to individuals, businesses, nonprofit organizations and municipal customers.

Its offerings include checking and savings accounts, certificates of deposit, residential and commercial real estate loans, consumer lending, business loans, lines of credit and other treasury-management services.