Provident Financial Services (NYSE:PFS) Stock Price Down 6.9% Following Analyst Downgrade

Provident Financial Services, Inc. (NYSE:PFS - Get Free Report) shares were down 6.9% during trading on Wednesday after Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on the stock from $19.00 to $18.00. Royal Bank of Canada currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Provident Financial Services traded as low as $13.57 and last traded at $13.58. Approximately 215,100 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 67% from the average daily volume of 651,790 shares. The stock had previously closed at $14.59.

A number of other research analysts have also commented on the stock. DA Davidson cut their price objective on shares of Provident Financial Services from $17.00 to $15.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. TheStreet lowered shares of Provident Financial Services from a "b-" rating to a "c+" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 13th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on shares of Provident Financial Services from $20.00 to $17.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Provident Financial Services presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $17.50.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Provident Financial Services news, Director Robert Mcnerney sold 5,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.86, for a total transaction of $89,300.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 9,475 shares of the company's stock, valued at $169,223.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders own 4.44% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Provident Financial Services

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PFS. BlackRock Inc. grew its stake in shares of Provident Financial Services by 0.6% during the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 11,351,187 shares of the savings and loans company's stock valued at $265,617,000 after purchasing an additional 70,302 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Provident Financial Services by 1.5% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,217,716 shares of the savings and loans company's stock valued at $160,245,000 after purchasing an additional 124,787 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Provident Financial Services by 3.4% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,086,247 shares of the savings and loans company's stock valued at $66,769,000 after purchasing an additional 132,482 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in shares of Provident Financial Services by 3.1% during the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,261,425 shares of the savings and loans company's stock valued at $34,577,000 after purchasing an additional 68,856 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Westwood Holdings Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Provident Financial Services by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 1,885,897 shares of the savings and loans company's stock valued at $34,003,000 after purchasing an additional 34,730 shares during the last quarter. 71.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Provident Financial Services Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 1.07. The company's 50 day moving average price is $15.00 and its 200 day moving average price is $15.72. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.89 and a beta of 1.07.

Provident Financial Services (NYSE:PFS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 26th. The savings and loans company reported $0.36 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.40 by ($0.04). Provident Financial Services had a net margin of 18.46% and a return on equity of 7.88%. The company had revenue of $114.76 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $114.30 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.66 earnings per share. Provident Financial Services's revenue for the quarter was down 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Provident Financial Services, Inc. will post 1.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Provident Financial Services Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 9th were paid a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 8th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.11%. Provident Financial Services's payout ratio is presently 56.14%.

Provident Financial Services Company 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.