Provident Financial Services, Inc. (PFS) To Go Ex-Dividend on April 26th

Provident Financial Services, Inc. (NYSE:PFS) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, April 18th, Zacks reports. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 29th will be paid a dividend of 0.24 per share by the savings and loans company on Friday, May 31st. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.64%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 26th.

Provident Financial Services has increased its dividend by an average of 1.4% annually over the last three years. Provident Financial Services has a dividend payout ratio of 45.3% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Provident Financial Services to earn $2.04 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.96 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 47.1%.

Provident Financial Services Trading Up 5.2 %

Shares of Provident Financial Services stock opened at $14.46 on Friday. Provident Financial Services has a fifty-two week low of $13.21 and a fifty-two week high of $19.62. The firm has a market cap of $1.09 billion, a PE ratio of 9.04 and a beta of 1.07. The business’s fifty day moving average is $14.75 and its two-hundred day moving average is $15.65. The company has a quick ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19.

Provident Financial Services (NYSE:PFS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 19th. The savings and loans company reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40 by $0.03. Provident Financial Services had a return on equity of 7.35% and a net margin of 16.78%. The company had revenue of $114.48 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $114.50 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.54 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 12.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Provident Financial Services will post 1.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Provident Financial Services

In related news, Director Robert Mcnerney sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.86, for a total value of $89,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 9,475 shares in the company, valued at approximately $169,223.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 4.29% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Provident Financial Services

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PFS. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Provident Financial Services in the 4th quarter valued at $15,922,000. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Provident Financial Services by 13.4% during the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,953,765 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $75,833,000 after acquiring an additional 466,497 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Provident Financial Services by 60.2% during the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,073,084 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $25,110,000 after acquiring an additional 403,067 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Provident Financial Services by 84.9% during the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 650,642 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $11,731,000 after acquiring an additional 298,744 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Balyasny Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Provident Financial Services during the third quarter valued at about $5,058,000. 71.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the company. DA Davidson cut their target price on Provident Financial Services from $17.00 to $15.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price on Provident Financial Services from $20.00 to $17.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on Provident Financial Services from $19.00 to $18.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, TheStreet lowered Provident Financial Services from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $17.50.

Provident Financial Services Company Profile

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.