Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC Purchases Shares of 59,390 Peoples Financial Services Corp. $PFIS

Key Points

• Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC acquired 59,390 shares of Peoples Financial Services Corp., valued at approximately $2.64 million, increasing their ownership to 0.59% of the company.
• Wall Street analysts upgraded Peoples Financial Services from a "hold" to a "buy" rating, with a consensus target price of $53.00.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.6175 per share, representing an annualized yield of 4.6% and a payout ratio of 73.73%.

Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Peoples Financial Services Corp. (NASDAQ:PFIS - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 59,390 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $2,641,000. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC owned 0.59% of Peoples Financial Services as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in Peoples Financial Services during the first quarter worth about $1,259,000. Cutler Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Peoples Financial Services during the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,243,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of Peoples Financial Services by 67,838.9% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 12,229 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $544,000 after purchasing an additional 12,211 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Peoples Financial Services by 4.5% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 232,031 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $11,876,000 after purchasing an additional 9,889 shares during the period. Finally, Tudor Investment Corp ET AL acquired a new position in shares of Peoples Financial Services in the fourth quarter valued at $377,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 31.67% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Peoples Financial Services from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, August 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $53.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Richard S. Lochen, Jr. acquired 1,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 6th. The stock was bought at an average price of $47.67 per share, with a total value of $47,670.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 18,319 shares in the company, valued at approximately $873,266.73. This represents a 5.77% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 4.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Peoples Financial Services Price Performance

Shares of PFIS stock opened at $53.25 on Wednesday. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $50.35 and its 200 day simple moving average is $47.90. Peoples Financial Services Corp. has a one year low of $38.90 and a one year high of $59.70. The firm has a market cap of $531.97 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.90 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.95.

Peoples Financial Services (NASDAQ:PFIS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The financial services provider reported $1.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.48 by $0.21. Peoples Financial Services had a return on equity of 12.20% and a net margin of 11.80%.The firm had revenue of $48.44 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $46.75 million. On average, analysts expect that Peoples Financial Services Corp. will post 5.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Peoples Financial Services Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 29th will be given a $0.6175 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 29th. This represents a $2.47 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.6%. Peoples Financial Services's payout ratio is 73.73%.

About Peoples Financial Services

Peoples Financial Services Corp. operates as the bank holding company for Peoples Security Bank and Trust Company that provides various commercial and retail banking services. The company accepts money market, negotiable order of withdrawal, savings, individual retirement, demand deposit, and certificates of deposit accounts.

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