Peoples Financial Services (NASDAQ:PFIS) Downgraded to Sell at StockNews.com

StockNews.com cut shares of Peoples Financial Services (NASDAQ:PFIS) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a report issued on Thursday morning.

PFIS has been the subject of a number of other reports. Hovde Group decreased their price objective on Peoples Financial Services from $48.00 to $43.00 and set a market perform rating for the company in a report on Monday, May 6th. Stephens dropped their target price on Peoples Financial Services from $50.00 to $47.00 and set an equal weight rating on the stock in a report on Monday, May 13th.

Peoples Financial Services Stock Performance

Shares of Peoples Financial Services stock opened at $40.43 on Thursday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $39.32 and its 200-day simple moving average is $42.36. Peoples Financial Services has a 1 year low of $36.26 and a 1 year high of $49.99. The firm has a market cap of $285.44 million, a PE ratio of 12.40 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 0.92.

Peoples Financial Services (NASDAQ:PFIS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The company had revenue of $22.72 million for the quarter. Peoples Financial Services had a net margin of 13.81% and a return on equity of 7.52%. Equities analysts forecast that Peoples Financial Services will post 4.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Peoples Financial Services Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 14th. Investors of record on Friday, May 31st will be given a $0.41 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 31st. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.06%. Peoples Financial Services’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 50.31%.

Institutional Trading of Peoples Financial Services

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its holdings in shares of Peoples Financial Services by 87.7% during the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 3,400 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $147,000 after acquiring an additional 1,589 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its stake in Peoples Financial Services by 7.7% during the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 3,739 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $182,000 after purchasing an additional 268 shares during the period. Trexquant Investment LP acquired a new stake in Peoples Financial Services during the 4th quarter valued at $281,000. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Peoples Financial Services by 13.5% in the third quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 8,031 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $322,000 after purchasing an additional 956 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fidelity D & D Bancorp Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Peoples Financial Services in the third quarter worth $333,000. 31.67% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.