Bank of America Corp DE lifted its stake in Provident Financial Services, Inc (NYSE:PFS - Free Report) by 23.4% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 624,648 shares of the savings and loans company's stock after purchasing an additional 118,432 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE owned approximately 0.48% of Provident Financial Services worth $13,218,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Provident Financial Services by 358.0% during the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,548 shares of the savings and loans company's stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 1,210 shares during the period. Kemnay Advisory Services Inc. bought a new position in shares of Provident Financial Services in the fourth quarter worth $33,000. Danske Bank A S acquired a new position in shares of Provident Financial Services during the third quarter valued at $58,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Provident Financial Services by 17.4% during the fourth quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 4,752 shares of the savings and loans company's stock worth $94,000 after acquiring an additional 705 shares during the period. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its position in Provident Financial Services by 227.6% in the second quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 6,926 shares of the savings and loans company's stock worth $121,000 after acquiring an additional 4,812 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.97% of the company's stock.
Insider Activity
In other news, EVP Vito Giannola sold 20,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.36, for a total value of $487,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 56,424 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,374,488.64. The trade was a 26.17% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 3.02% of the company's stock.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
Several research firms recently issued reports on PFS. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $29.00 price objective (up from $26.00) on shares of Provident Financial Services in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Weiss Ratings reissued a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Provident Financial Services in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $28.00 price target (up from $26.00) on shares of Provident Financial Services in a report on Monday, August 3rd. DA Davidson set a $26.00 price target on Provident Financial Services in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Finally, Hovde Group lifted their price objective on Provident Financial Services from $26.50 to $28.50 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, July 31st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Provident Financial Services has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $26.79.
Get Our Latest Analysis on Provident Financial Services
Provident Financial Services Stock Up 0.1%
Provident Financial Services stock opened at $23.72 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $3.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.88 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99. Provident Financial Services, Inc has a twelve month low of $17.69 and a twelve month high of $25.49. The company's 50-day moving average price is $23.90 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $22.69.
Provident Financial Services (NYSE:PFS - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The savings and loans company reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.56 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $234.96 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $225.57 million. Provident Financial Services had a return on equity of 11.00% and a net margin of 22.15%.During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.55 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Provident Financial Services, Inc will post 2.41 EPS for the current year.
Provident Financial Services Announces Dividend
The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 14th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.0%. Provident Financial Services's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 40.00%.
Provident Financial Services Company Profile
(
Free Report)
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.
See Also
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.
Continue following MarketBeat
Add MarketBeat as your preferred source on Google to see our latest stories in your feed.
Before you consider Provident Financial Services, you'll want to hear this.
MarketBeat keeps track of Wall Street's top-rated and best performing research analysts and the stocks they recommend to their clients on a daily basis. MarketBeat has identified the five stocks that top analysts are quietly whispering to their clients to buy now before the broader market catches on... and Provident Financial Services wasn't on the list.
While Provident Financial Services currently has a Moderate Buy rating among analysts, top-rated analysts believe these five stocks are better buys.
View The Five Stocks Here
The AI boom is creating opportunities across semiconductors, cloud computing, enterprise software, infrastructure, cybersecurity, and automation.
Inside this report, you’ll find 10 companies positioned to benefit as artificial intelligence moves from hype to real-world deployment and becomes a core growth driver for corporate America.
Get This Free Report
Like this article? Share it with a colleague.
Link copied to clipboard.
