Provident Financial Services (NYSE:PFS) Raised to “Hold” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Provident Financial Services (NYSE:PFS) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a report published on Thursday.

A number of other equities analysts also recently commented on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded Provident Financial Services from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $20.00 to $21.00 in a report on Thursday, August 15th. DA Davidson increased their price target on Provident Financial Services from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Provident Financial Services has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $23.00.

Provident Financial Services Trading Up 0.2 %

NYSE:PFS opened at $21.33 on Thursday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $19.56 and its 200 day moving average price is $17.47. Provident Financial Services has a 52 week low of $13.07 and a 52 week high of $22.24. The company has a market capitalization of $2.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.51 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.03.

Provident Financial Services (NYSE:PFS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The savings and loans company reported $0.36 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47 by ($0.11). Provident Financial Services had a return on equity of 5.21% and a net margin of 9.55%. The firm had revenue of $349.38 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $211.25 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.38 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Provident Financial Services will post 1.84 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Provident Financial Services Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 15th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.50%. Provident Financial Services’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 92.31%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Provident Financial Services

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in Provident Financial Services by 51.6% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,787,088 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $111,740,000 after purchasing an additional 2,649,643 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Provident Financial Services by 10.2% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,683,467 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $142,605,000 after acquiring an additional 713,688 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC boosted its position in shares of Provident Financial Services by 4,245.5% in the second quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 3,996,954 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $56,877,000 after acquiring an additional 3,904,975 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Provident Financial Services by 1.9% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,947,394 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $54,715,000 after acquiring an additional 53,943 shares during the period. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position in shares of Provident Financial Services by 9.7% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,550,462 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $36,599,000 after acquiring an additional 225,839 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.97% of the company’s stock.

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.