Provident Financial Services, Inc. (NYSE:PFS) Plans $0.24 Quarterly Dividend

Provident Financial Services, Inc. (NYSE:PFS) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, April 18th, Zacks reports. Investors of record on Monday, April 29th will be paid a dividend of 0.24 per share by the savings and loans company on Friday, May 31st. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.18%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 26th.

Provident Financial Services has increased its dividend payment by an average of 1.4% per year over the last three years. Provident Financial Services has a dividend payout ratio of 45.3% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Provident Financial Services to earn $2.04 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.96 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 47.1%.

Provident Financial Services Stock Performance

Shares of PFS stock opened at $15.54 on Thursday. Provident Financial Services has a 12-month low of $13.21 and a 12-month high of $19.62. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.71 and a beta of 1.07. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $14.75 and a 200 day simple moving average of $15.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 1.07.

Provident Financial Services (NYSE:PFS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 19th. The savings and loans company reported $0.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40 by $0.03. Provident Financial Services had a return on equity of 7.31% and a net margin of 16.78%. The business had revenue of $114.48 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $114.50 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.54 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 12.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Provident Financial Services will post 1.63 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on PFS shares. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Provident Financial Services from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday. TheStreet downgraded Provident Financial Services from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 13th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price on Provident Financial Services from $20.00 to $17.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. StockNews.com upgraded Provident Financial Services from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, DA Davidson upgraded Provident Financial Services from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $15.00 to $20.00 in a research report on Monday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $19.00.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Robert Mcnerney sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.86, for a total transaction of $89,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 9,475 shares in the company, valued at approximately $169,223.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 4.29% 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.