Public Sector Pension Investment Board Buys 64,026 Shares of Provident Financial Services, Inc $PFS

Public Sector Pension Investment Board grew its stake in shares of Provident Financial Services, Inc (NYSE:PFS) by 14.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 509,475 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock after purchasing an additional 64,026 shares during the quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board’s holdings in Provident Financial Services were worth $9,823,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in PFS. Royal Bank of Canada grew its stake in shares of Provident Financial Services by 23.9% in the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 44,106 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $758,000 after buying an additional 8,507 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its stake in Provident Financial Services by 4.6% in the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 74,926 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $1,286,000 after acquiring an additional 3,277 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC grew its position in shares of Provident Financial Services by 6.3% in the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 256,739 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $4,408,000 after acquiring an additional 15,112 shares during the period. Jane Street Group LLC grew its position in shares of Provident Financial Services by 247.5% in the 1st quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 312,478 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $5,365,000 after acquiring an additional 222,549 shares during the period. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Provident Financial Services by 45.6% during the 1st quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 73,261 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $1,258,000 after purchasing an additional 22,961 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.97% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on PFS. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of Provident Financial Services from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $25.00 price target on Provident Financial Services in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Provident Financial Services in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, DA Davidson downgraded Provident Financial Services from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, October 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $23.70.

Provident Financial Services Stock Down 0.0%

Provident Financial Services stock opened at $22.98 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $3.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.30 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90. Provident Financial Services, Inc has a twelve month low of $14.34 and a twelve month high of $23.98. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $21.12 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $19.82.

Provident Financial Services (NYSE:PFS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 27th. The savings and loans company reported $0.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.56 by $0.08. Provident Financial Services had a return on equity of 10.69% and a net margin of 21.06%.The company had revenue of $225.03 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $224.08 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.37 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Provident Financial Services, Inc will post 2.14 EPS for the current year.

Provident Financial Services Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 13th will be issued a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 13th. Provident Financial Services’s dividend payout ratio is currently 43.05%.

Provident Financial Services announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Monday, January 26th that allows the company to repurchase $2.81 million in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the savings and loans company to reacquire up to 0.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Provident Financial Services Profile

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.