Peoples Financial Services (NASDAQ:PFIS) Shares Pass Below 50-Day Moving Average – Should You Sell?

Peoples Financial Services Corp. (NASDAQ:PFIS)’s share price passed below its 50 day moving average during trading on Monday . The stock has a 50 day moving average of $70.35 and traded as low as $69.94. Peoples Financial Services shares last traded at $69.96, with a volume of 59,074 shares traded.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PFIS has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Hovde Group increased their target price on shares of 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. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Peoples Financial Services in a research report on Friday, September 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $65.50.

Peoples Financial Services Trading Down 1.7%

The stock has a 50 day moving average of $70.43 and a 200 day moving average of $62.94. 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 firm has a market cap of $685.79 million, a P/E ratio of 7.76 and a beta of 0.74.

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

Peoples Financial Services Announces Dividend

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Peoples Financial Services

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in Peoples Financial Services in the 2nd quarter worth $49,412,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in Peoples Financial Services by 5.9% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 316,621 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $16,886,000 after buying an additional 17,655 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC purchased a new stake in Peoples Financial Services during the second quarter valued at about $3,987,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new position in shares of Peoples Financial Services during the second quarter valued at about $3,494,000. Finally, 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 valued at $2,982,000 after buying an additional 227 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 31.67% of the company’s stock.

About Peoples Financial Services

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

Peoples Security Bank and Trust offers deposit accounts, consumer and residential real estate loans, commercial lending, mortgage products, cash management services and other traditional banking solutions.