Hunter Perkins Capital Management LLC Takes $441,000 Position in Provident Financial Services, Inc $PFS

Hunter Perkins Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Provident Financial Services, Inc (NYSE:PFS - Free Report) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 25,135 shares of the savings and loans company's stock, valued at approximately $441,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in Provident Financial Services by 84.5% during the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,207,898 shares of the savings and loans company's stock valued at $55,080,000 after purchasing an additional 1,469,432 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Provident Financial Services by 5.2% in the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,584,298 shares of the savings and loans company's stock valued at $44,372,000 after purchasing an additional 127,897 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of Provident Financial Services in the first quarter valued at approximately $17,412,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Provident Financial Services by 2.7% during the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 649,485 shares of the savings and loans company's stock valued at $11,152,000 after buying an additional 16,941 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sound Income Strategies LLC bought a new stake in Provident Financial Services during the second quarter worth $9,548,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.97% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Provident Financial Services

In related news, EVP James A. Christy sold 3,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.90, for a total value of $59,700.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 39,633 shares in the company, valued at approximately $788,696.70. The trade was a 7.04% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director John Pugliese sold 25,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.91, for a total transaction of $497,750.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 87,907 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,750,228.37. This trade represents a 22.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 3.10% of the company's stock.

Provident Financial Services Stock Performance

Shares of PFS stock opened at $19.72 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.03. The firm has a market cap of $2.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.14 and a beta of 0.91. Provident Financial Services, Inc has a 52 week low of $14.34 and a 52 week high of $22.24. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $19.30 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $17.81.

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

Provident Financial Services Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 15th were paid a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 15th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.9%. Provident Financial Services's payout ratio is presently 54.24%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PFS has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Raymond James Financial started coverage on Provident Financial Services in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. They set a "strong-buy" rating and a $21.00 price objective on the stock. DA Davidson increased their target price on shares of Provident Financial Services from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, July 28th. Weiss Ratings restated a "hold (c+)" rating on shares of Provident Financial Services in a report on Saturday, September 27th. Hovde Group upped their price objective 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, Zacks Research cut shares of Provident Financial Services from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, September 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $22.70.

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.

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