Peoples Financial Services (NASDAQ:PFIS) Rating Increased to Buy at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Peoples Financial Services (NASDAQ:PFIS) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report sent to investors on Sunday.

Several other analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. Hovde Group cut their target price on Peoples Financial Services from $54.00 to $50.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 3rd. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Peoples Financial Services in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $50.00.

Peoples Financial Services Price Performance

Shares of PFIS stock traded up $0.29 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $46.74. 18,039 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 27,041. The company has a market capitalization of $467.17 million, a PE ratio of 13.95 and a beta of 0.79. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $48.98 and its 200-day simple moving average is $49.18. Peoples Financial Services has a 12-month low of $38.90 and a 12-month high of $59.70. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39.

Peoples Financial Services (NASDAQ:PFIS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $4.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.52 by $3.19. The business had revenue of $48.03 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $49.00 million. Peoples Financial Services had a net margin of 11.80% and a return on equity of 12.20%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Peoples Financial Services will post 5.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Peoples Financial Services Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 28th will be issued a dividend of $0.6175 per share. This represents a $2.47 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 28th. Peoples Financial Services’s payout ratio is presently 29.16%.

Institutional Trading of Peoples Financial Services

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of PFIS. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Peoples Financial Services by 1.4% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 495,001 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $22,013,000 after purchasing an additional 6,935 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Peoples Financial Services by 5.7% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 231,462 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $11,430,000 after purchasing an additional 12,447 shares in the last quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Peoples Financial Services by 4.4% during the first quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC now owns 63,551 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,826,000 after buying an additional 2,679 shares during the last quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Peoples Financial Services during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $2,641,000. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC lifted its position in Peoples Financial Services by 7.1% during the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 40,651 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,808,000 after purchasing an additional 2,679 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 31.67% of the company’s stock.

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.