James Christy Sells 3,000 Shares of Provident Financial Services (NYSE:PFS) Stock

Provident Financial Services, Inc (NYSE:PFS) EVP James Christy sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.36, for a total transaction of $70,080.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 43,083 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,006,418.88. This represents a 6.51% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink.

Provident Financial Services Trading Down 0.8%

Shares of Provident Financial Services stock opened at $23.15 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $23.94 and a 200-day simple moving average of $22.74. The stock has a market cap of $3.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.65 and a beta of 0.77. Provident Financial Services, Inc has a 12-month low of $17.69 and a 12-month high of $25.49.

Provident Financial Services (NYSE:PFS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The savings and loans company reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.56 by $0.04. Provident Financial Services had a net margin of 22.15% and a return on equity of 11.00%. The firm had revenue of $234.96 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $225.57 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.55 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Provident Financial Services, Inc will post 2.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Provident Financial Services Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 14th were issued a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 14th. Provident Financial Services’s payout ratio is presently 40.00%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Provident Financial Services

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in Provident Financial Services by 3.3% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 8,070,734 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $170,775,000 after acquiring an additional 256,540 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new position in shares of Provident Financial Services in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $36,916,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings in shares of Provident Financial Services by 6.9% in the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 998,562 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $23,606,000 after purchasing an additional 64,251 shares during the period. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Provident Financial Services by 23.6% in the fourth quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC now owns 896,079 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $17,698,000 after purchasing an additional 171,103 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Provident Financial Services by 10.7% during the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 827,266 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $17,505,000 after purchasing an additional 80,147 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.97% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PFS has been the topic of a number of research reports. DA Davidson set a $26.00 price target on Provident Financial Services in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $28.00 price objective (up from $26.00) on shares of Provident Financial Services in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Provident Financial Services in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Raymond James Financial raised their target price on shares of Provident Financial Services from $25.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 1st. Finally, Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $29.00 target price (up from $26.00) on shares of Provident Financial Services in a report on Friday, July 31st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $26.79.

Provident Financial Services Company Profile

Provident Financial Services, Inc is the parent company of Provident Bank, a full-service community bank serving individuals, families, businesses and nonprofit organizations. The company provides a range of banking products, including checking and savings accounts, certificates of deposit, residential mortgages, home equity loans, commercial real estate financing, commercial and industrial loans, and consumer lending.

Through its banking operations, Provident also offers cash management, online and mobile banking, wealth management, trust services and other financial solutions.