EJF Capital LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Provident Financial Services, Inc $PFS

Key Points

• EJF Capital LLC increased its stake in Provident Financial Services by 50.6% during the first quarter, now holding 221,335 shares, which constitutes 2.4% of its investment portfolio.
• Analysts have set a consensus target price of $22.70 for Provident Financial Services, with one "Strong Buy" rating and four "Buy" ratings, indicating positive market sentiment.
• The company recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.24 per share, resulting in an annual dividend yield of 4.8%.

EJF Capital LLC increased its position in Provident Financial Services, Inc (NYSE:PFS - Free Report) by 50.6% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 221,335 shares of the savings and loans company's stock after acquiring an additional 74,327 shares during the period. Provident Financial Services comprises about 2.4% of EJF Capital LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 10th biggest holding. EJF Capital LLC owned 0.17% of Provident Financial Services worth $3,800,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Provident Financial Services by 2.7% in the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 649,485 shares of the savings and loans company's stock worth $11,152,000 after acquiring an additional 16,941 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in Provident Financial Services by 447.3% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,505 shares of the savings and loans company's stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 1,230 shares in the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG lifted its position in Provident Financial Services by 27.5% during the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 101,830 shares of the savings and loans company's stock valued at $1,922,000 after purchasing an additional 21,993 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its position in Provident Financial Services by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 71,649 shares of the savings and loans company's stock valued at $1,352,000 after purchasing an additional 2,728 shares in the last quarter. Finally, XTX Topco Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Provident Financial Services during the 1st quarter valued at about $242,000. Institutional investors own 71.97% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Provident Financial Services

In other Provident Financial Services news, Chairman Christopher P. Martin sold 55,668 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.07, for a total transaction of $950,252.76. Following the sale, 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 document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. 3.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Provident Financial Services Price Performance

Shares of Provident Financial Services stock traded down $0.12 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $19.88. The company's stock had a trading volume of 437,452 shares, compared to its average volume of 647,530. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $18.84 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $17.48. Provident Financial Services, Inc has a 12-month low of $14.34 and a 12-month high of $22.24. The company has a market cap of $2.60 billion, a PE ratio of 11.23 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current 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 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.50 by $0.05. Provident Financial Services had a return on equity of 8.80% and a net margin of 16.97%.The business had revenue of $214.17 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $213.39 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned ($0.11) earnings per share. Analysts expect that Provident Financial Services, Inc will post 2.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Provident Financial Services Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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 of this dividend was Friday, August 15th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.8%. Provident Financial Services's payout ratio is presently 54.24%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on PFS. Hovde Group lifted their price objective on Provident Financial Services from $22.50 to $23.50 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. DA Davidson lifted their price objective on Provident Financial Services from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Finally, Raymond James Financial began coverage on Provident Financial Services in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. They set a "strong-buy" rating and a $21.00 price objective on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and four have given a Buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target 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.