Peoples Financial Services Corp. Plans Quarterly Dividend of $0.63 (NASDAQ:PFIS)

Peoples Financial Services Corp. (NASDAQ:PFIS) announced a quarterly dividend on Friday, April 24th. Investors of record on Friday, May 29th will be given a dividend of 0.625 per share by the financial services provider on Monday, June 15th. This represents a c) dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 29th.

Peoples Financial Services has increased its dividend by an average of 0.1%annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 8 years. Peoples Financial Services has a payout ratio of 39.4% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings.

Peoples Financial Services Stock Up 1.4%

Peoples Financial Services stock opened at $60.10 on Wednesday. Peoples Financial Services has a one year low of $43.64 and a one year high of $60.41. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $56.26 and a 200 day moving average of $53.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 0.98. The stock has a market cap of $601.60 million, a PE ratio of 6.66 and a beta of 0.77.

Peoples Financial Services (NASDAQ:PFIS) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.54 by ($0.11). Peoples Financial Services had a return on equity of 18.06% and a net margin of 21.29%.The firm had revenue of $92.63 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $49.95 million.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Peoples Financial Services

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in PFIS. First Trust Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of Peoples Financial Services by 429.7% in the third quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 33,886 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,647,000 after buying an additional 27,489 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of Peoples Financial Services by 5.9% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 316,621 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $16,886,000 after buying an additional 17,655 shares during the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Peoples Financial Services in the first quarter worth approximately $467,000. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Peoples Financial Services by 19.0% during the fourth quarter. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 44,797 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,182,000 after purchasing an additional 7,159 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Qube Research & Technologies Ltd lifted its holdings in Peoples Financial Services by 48.2% during the third quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 21,132 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,027,000 after purchasing an additional 6,873 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 31.67% of the company’s stock.

About Peoples Financial Services

Peoples Financial Services Corporation is the bank holding company for PeoplesBank, a community-focused commercial bank headquartered in Holyoke, Massachusetts. Through its wholly owned subsidiary, PeoplesBank, PFIS offers a full suite of banking services to individuals, small businesses, and commercial clients. These services include deposit accounts, consumer and residential mortgage lending, commercial and industrial lending, and treasury management solutions.

Founded in 1842, PeoplesBank has grown organically and through selective acquisitions to become a prominent community bank in Western Massachusetts and Northern Connecticut.