Peoples Financial Services (NASDAQ:PFIS) Stock: Insider James Nicholas Sells 3,984 Shares

Peoples Financial Services Corp. (NASDAQ:PFIS) Director James Nicholas sold 3,984 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.07, for a total value of $287,126.88. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link.

Peoples Financial Services Trading Down 0.2%

Peoples Financial Services stock opened at $72.44 on Thursday. Peoples Financial Services Corp. has a 52 week low of $46.07 and a 52 week high of $76.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 0.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $725.12 million, a PE ratio of 11.76 and a beta of 0.77. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $70.34 and its 200-day simple moving average is $63.02.

Peoples Financial Services (NASDAQ:PFIS) last announced its earnings results on Friday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.90 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.71 by $0.19. Peoples Financial Services had a return on equity of 11.75% and a net margin of 20.51%. The firm had revenue of $52.97 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $53.80 million. Equities research analysts forecast that Peoples Financial Services Corp. will post 6.37 earnings per share for the current year.

Peoples Financial Services Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 30th will be issued a $0.6250 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 30th. This represents a $2.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.5%. Peoples Financial Services’s dividend payout ratio is 41.39%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Zacks Research raised shares of Peoples Financial Services to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 24th. Weiss Ratings raised Peoples Financial Services from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 4th. Finally, Hovde Group upped their target price on Peoples Financial Services from $61.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Peoples Financial Services presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $65.50.

Institutional Trading of Peoples Financial Services

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in PFIS. Ieq Capital LLC lifted its position in Peoples Financial Services by 17.5% during the 3rd quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 3,565 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $240,000 after buying an additional 531 shares in the last quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC increased its holdings in shares of Peoples Financial Services by 466.7% in the third quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 79,954 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,386,000 after purchasing an additional 65,846 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in Peoples Financial Services in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $393,000. Van Hulzen Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Peoples Financial Services in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $215,000. Finally, Engineers Gate Manager LP bought a new position in Peoples Financial Services in the 2nd quarter valued at $336,000. 31.67% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Peoples Financial Services

Peoples Financial Services Corp. is a bank holding company whose principal subsidiary, Peoples Security Bank and Trust Company, provides community banking services. The company serves individuals, businesses, and nonprofit organizations, with a presence across northeastern and central Pennsylvania. Its services include checking and savings accounts, certificates of deposit, residential mortgages, consumer loans, and commercial lending. Customers can also access online and mobile banking and business cash-management services.