Provident Financial Services, Inc. Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.24 (NYSE:PFS)

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

Provident Financial Services has raised its dividend by an average of 1.4% per year over the last three years. Provident Financial Services has a dividend payout ratio of 45.3% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. 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. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.09 billion, a PE ratio of 9.04 and a beta of 1.07. Provident Financial Services has a twelve month low of $13.21 and a twelve month high of $19.62. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $14.75 and its 200 day moving average price is $15.65. The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick 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 Thursday, April 18th. The savings and loans company reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $114.48 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $114.50 million. Provident Financial Services had a net margin of 16.78% and a return on equity of 7.35%. Provident Financial Services’s quarterly revenue was down 12.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.54 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Provident Financial Services will post 1.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Provident Financial Services

In other news, Director Robert Mcnerney sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.86, for a total transaction of $89,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 9,475 shares in the company, valued at approximately $169,223.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 4.29% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Provident Financial Services

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Mariner LLC increased its holdings in shares of Provident Financial Services by 5.9% during the 3rd quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 13,217 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $202,000 after buying an additional 736 shares during the last quarter. Pathstone Holdings LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Provident Financial Services during the 4th quarter worth approximately $193,000. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC increased its holdings in shares of Provident Financial Services by 597.5% during the 3rd quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 11,907 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $182,000 after buying an additional 10,200 shares during the last quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Provident Financial Services during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $178,000. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Provident Financial Services by 1,728.7% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 7,333 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $132,000 after buying an additional 6,932 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.97% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

About Provident Financial Services

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.