Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Sells 60,353 Shares of Provident Financial Services, Inc $PFS

Key Points

• Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. reduced its stake in Provident Financial Services by 3.3%, selling 60,353 shares, while its remaining ownership is valued at approximately $30.3 million.
• Insider selling was noted with Chairman Christopher P. Martin offloading 55,668 shares at an average price of $17.07, decreasing his ownership in the process.
• Provident Financial Services announced a quarterly dividend of $0.24 per share, translating to an annualized yield of 5.1%, with the ex-dividend date set for August 15th.

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lowered its holdings in Provident Financial Services, Inc (NYSE:PFS - Free Report) by 3.3% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,765,640 shares of the savings and loans company's stock after selling 60,353 shares during the quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. owned 1.35% of Provident Financial Services worth $30,316,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in PFS. LPL Financial LLC boosted its position in Provident Financial Services by 75.6% in the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 43,570 shares of the savings and loans company's stock valued at $822,000 after buying an additional 18,751 shares in the last quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN boosted its position in Provident Financial Services by 15.4% in the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 83,132 shares of the savings and loans company's stock valued at $1,569,000 after buying an additional 11,122 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in Provident Financial Services by 12.8% in the fourth quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 37,065 shares of the savings and loans company's stock valued at $699,000 after buying an additional 4,204 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can boosted its position in Provident Financial Services by 17.9% in the fourth quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 17,663 shares of the savings and loans company's stock valued at $333,000 after buying an additional 2,688 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Provident Financial Services in the fourth quarter valued at about $6,994,000. Institutional investors own 71.97% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Chairman Christopher P. Martin sold 55,668 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.07, for a total value of $950,252.76. Following the transaction, the chairman directly owned 601,050 shares in the company, valued at $10,259,923.50. This represents a 8.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 3.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have commented on PFS shares. DA Davidson boosted their price target on shares of Provident Financial Services from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Raymond James Financial assumed coverage on shares of Provident Financial Services in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. They set a "strong-buy" rating and a $21.00 target price on the stock. Hovde Group upped their target price on shares of Provident Financial Services from $22.50 to $23.50 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price on shares of Provident Financial Services from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and four have issued a Buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Provident Financial Services presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $22.70.

Provident Financial Services Price Performance

Shares of PFS stock traded down $0.0450 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $19.7150. 497,213 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 591,396. The stock's fifty day moving average is $18.27 and its two-hundred day moving average is $17.41. Provident Financial Services, Inc has a fifty-two week low of $14.34 and a fifty-two week high of $22.24. The company has a market cap of $2.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.14 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 1.03.

Provident Financial Services (NYSE:PFS - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 24th. The savings and loans company reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.50 by $0.05. Provident Financial Services had a net margin of 16.97% and a return on equity of 8.80%. The business had revenue of $214.17 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $213.39 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted ($0.11) earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Provident Financial Services, Inc will post 2.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Provident Financial Services Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 29th. Investors of record on Friday, August 15th will be issued a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.9%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 15th. Provident Financial Services's dividend payout ratio is currently 54.24%.

Provident Financial Services 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.