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

Provident Financial Services, Inc. (NYSE:PFS) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, October 29th, NASDAQ reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be paid a dividend of 0.24 per share by the savings and loans company on Friday, November 29th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.04%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 15th.

Provident Financial Services has raised its dividend by an average of 1.4% annually over the last three years. Provident Financial Services has a dividend payout ratio of 43.2% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Provident Financial Services to earn $2.18 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 44.0%.

Provident Financial Services Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE PFS traded down $0.17 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $19.03. The stock had a trading volume of 606,832 shares, compared to its average volume of 892,456. The firm has a market cap of $2.48 billion, a PE ratio of 17.95 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.03. The company has a 50 day moving average of $18.61 and a two-hundred day moving average of $16.61. Provident Financial Services has a twelve month low of $13.07 and a twelve month high of $19.97.

Provident Financial Services (NYSE:PFS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The savings and loans company reported $0.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.46 by ($0.10). Provident Financial Services had a return on equity of 4.95% and a net margin of 9.38%. The firm had revenue of $349.38 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $211.25 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.38 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Provident Financial Services will post 1.72 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Provident Financial Services

In other news, EVP Vito Giannola sold 5,499 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.09, for a total transaction of $99,476.91. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 88,656 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,603,787.04. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 4.44% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on PFS. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of Provident Financial Services from $18.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. StockNews.com downgraded Provident Financial Services from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised Provident Financial Services from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $20.00 to $21.00 in a report on Thursday, August 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Provident Financial Services presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $20.67.

Provident Financial Services Company Profile

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.