Peoples Financial Services (NASDAQ:PFIS) Share Price Passes Above 50-Day Moving Average – Here’s Why

Peoples Financial Services Corp. (NASDAQ:PFIS)’s share price passed above its 50-day moving average during trading on Thursday . The stock has a 50-day moving average of $63.40 and traded as high as $68.17. Peoples Financial Services shares last traded at $68.01, with a volume of 81,451 shares traded.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. Hovde Group lifted their price objective on Peoples Financial Services from $59.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Peoples Financial Services in a research note on Tuesday, June 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Peoples Financial Services has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $58.50.

Peoples Financial Services Trading Up 2.1%

The firm has a market cap of $695.09 million, a P/E ratio of 7.69 and a beta of 0.76. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $63.66 and a 200 day simple moving average of $57.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 0.98.

Peoples Financial Services (NASDAQ:PFIS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.54 by ($0.11). Peoples Financial Services had a net margin of 21.29% and a return on equity of 18.06%. The business had revenue of $92.63 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $49.95 million.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Peoples Financial Services

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of PFIS. Royal Bank of Canada grew its stake in shares of Peoples Financial Services by 7.4% in the fourth quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 2,559 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $125,000 after acquiring an additional 176 shares during the period. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co raised its holdings in shares of Peoples Financial Services by 27.7% during the fourth quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 941 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 204 shares during the last quarter. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in 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 purchasing an additional 227 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its position in Peoples Financial Services by 4.4% during the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 5,513 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $245,000 after purchasing an additional 234 shares during the period. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its holdings in Peoples Financial Services by 59.1% in the second quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 969 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $48,000 after purchasing an additional 360 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 31.67% of the company’s stock.

About Peoples Financial Services

Peoples Financial Services Corporation is the bank holding company for PeoplesBank, a community-focused commercial bank headquartered in Holyoke, Massachusetts. Through its wholly owned subsidiary, PeoplesBank, PFIS offers a full suite of banking services to individuals, small businesses, and commercial clients. These services include deposit accounts, consumer and residential mortgage lending, commercial and industrial lending, and treasury management solutions.

Founded in 1842, PeoplesBank has grown organically and through selective acquisitions to become a prominent community bank in Western Massachusetts and Northern Connecticut.