Provident Financial Services (NYSE:PFS) Upgraded to Strong-Buy at Raymond James Financial

Provident Financial Services (NYSE:PFS - Get Free Report) was upgraded by research analysts at Raymond James Financial to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report issued on Thursday,Zacks.com reports.

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on shares of Provident Financial Services from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $23.60.

Provident Financial Services Stock Up 5.9%

NYSE PFS opened at $17.90 on Thursday. Provident Financial Services has a 52 week low of $13.25 and a 52 week high of $22.24. The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $16.78 and its 200-day simple moving average is $17.59. The firm has a market cap of $2.34 billion, a PE ratio of 16.12 and a beta of 0.86.

Provident Financial Services (NYSE:PFS - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The savings and loans company reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.47 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $208.76 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $206.86 million. Provident Financial Services had a return on equity of 6.38% and a net margin of 11.45%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 82.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.43 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Provident Financial Services will post 2.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Provident Financial Services

In other Provident Financial Services news, Chairman Christopher P. Martin sold 55,668 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.07, for a total transaction of $950,252.76. Following the sale, the chairman now directly owns 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 3.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Provident Financial Services

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Provident Financial Services by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,605,199 shares of the savings and loans company's stock worth $275,600,000 after purchasing an additional 51,253 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in Provident Financial Services by 84.5% during the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,207,898 shares of the savings and loans company's stock worth $55,080,000 after purchasing an additional 1,469,432 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in Provident Financial Services by 5.2% during the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,584,298 shares of the savings and loans company's stock worth $44,372,000 after purchasing an additional 127,897 shares during the period. Systematic Financial Management LP increased its stake in Provident Financial Services by 4.6% during the fourth quarter. Systematic Financial Management LP now owns 1,976,235 shares of the savings and loans company's stock worth $37,292,000 after purchasing an additional 87,612 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Provident Financial Services by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,825,993 shares of the savings and loans company's stock worth $34,456,000 after purchasing an additional 33,201 shares during the period. 71.97% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.

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