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

Provident Financial Services, Inc. (NYSE:PFS) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, April 18th, Zacks reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 29th will be given 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 dividend yield of 6.64%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 26th.

Provident Financial Services has raised its dividend payment by an average of 1.4% annually over the last three years. Provident Financial Services has a dividend payout ratio of 45.3% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities 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

PFS stock opened at $14.46 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $1.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.04 and a beta of 1.07. Provident Financial Services has a 1 year low of $13.21 and a 1 year high of $19.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 1.07. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $14.75 and its 200-day moving average price is $15.65.

Provident Financial Services (NYSE:PFS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. 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. The firm had revenue of $114.48 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $114.50 million. Provident Financial Services had a return on equity of 7.35% and a net margin of 16.78%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 12.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.54 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Provident Financial Services will post 1.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on PFS. TheStreet downgraded Provident Financial Services from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on Provident Financial Services from $20.00 to $17.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. DA Davidson lowered their target price on Provident Financial Services from $17.00 to $15.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on Provident Financial Services from $19.00 to $18.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Provident Financial Services has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $17.50.

Insider Buying and Selling at Provident Financial Services

In other Provident Financial Services news, Director Robert Mcnerney sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.86, for a total transaction of $89,300.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 9,475 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $169,223.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 4.29% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Provident Financial Services

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Provident Financial Services in the fourth quarter worth about $15,922,000. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Provident Financial Services by 13.4% in the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,953,765 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $75,833,000 after purchasing an additional 466,497 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Provident Financial Services by 60.2% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,073,084 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $25,110,000 after purchasing an additional 403,067 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Provident Financial Services by 84.9% in the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 650,642 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $11,731,000 after purchasing an additional 298,744 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Balyasny Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Provident Financial Services in the third quarter worth about $5,058,000. 71.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.