Peoples Financial Services (NASDAQ:PFIS) Announces Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.19 EPS

Key Points

• Peoples Financial Services reported quarterly EPS of $1.90, exceeding analysts’ consensus estimate of $1.71 by $0.19. The company posted a 20.66% net margin and 17.27% return on equity.
• PFIS shares fell 1.6% to $70.32, while the company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.625 per share, representing a 3.6% yield and a 28.31% payout ratio.
• Analyst sentiment remains cautious, with one Buy rating and three Hold ratings; the stock has a consensus rating of Hold and a $65.50 target price.

Peoples Financial Services (NASDAQ:PFIS - Get Free Report) released its quarterly earnings data on Friday. The financial services provider reported $1.90 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.71 by $0.19, FiscalAI reports. Peoples Financial Services had a net margin of 20.66% and a return on equity of 17.27%.

Peoples Financial Services Trading Down 1.6%

Shares of PFIS traded down $1.14 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $70.32. 53,806 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 52,865. Peoples Financial Services has a fifty-two week low of $43.64 and a fifty-two week high of $73.37. The business has a 50-day moving average of $69.76 and a 200-day moving average of $62.01. The firm has a market capitalization of $703.90 million, a P/E ratio of 7.96 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 0.99 and a quick ratio of 0.99.

Peoples Financial Services Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 15th. Investors of record on Monday, November 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.6250 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 30th. This represents a $2.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.6%. Peoples Financial Services's dividend payout ratio is presently 28.31%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on PFIS. Weiss Ratings reissued a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Peoples Financial Services in a report on Friday, September 4th. Hovde Group lifted 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. Finally, Zacks Research raised Peoples Financial Services to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, September 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Peoples Financial Services presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $65.50.

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. The bank provides financial services to individuals, businesses, nonprofit organizations and municipal customers.

Its offerings include checking and savings accounts, certificates of deposit, residential and commercial real estate loans, consumer lending, business loans, lines of credit and other treasury-management services.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.