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

Provident Financial Services, Inc. (NYSE:PFS) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, January 29th,Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a dividend of 0.24 per share by the savings and loans company on Friday, February 28th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.23%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th.

Provident Financial Services has raised its dividend payment by an average of 1.1% per year over the last three years. Provident Financial Services has a dividend payout ratio of 40.9% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Provident Financial Services to earn $2.13 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 45.1%.

Provident Financial Services Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:PFS traded down $0.84 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $18.35. The stock had a trading volume of 1,463,676 shares, compared to its average volume of 595,838. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.03. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $19.69 and a 200-day moving average price of $19.02. The stock has a market cap of $2.39 billion, a PE ratio of 17.64 and a beta of 1.08. Provident Financial Services has a 1-year low of $13.07 and a 1-year high of $22.24.

Provident Financial Services (NYSE:PFS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 28th. The savings and loans company reported $0.37 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.50 by ($0.13). Provident Financial Services had a return on equity of 5.21% and a net margin of 9.55%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Provident Financial Services will post 1.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PFS has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. DA Davidson lifted their target price on Provident Financial Services from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. StockNews.com cut Provident Financial Services from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 9th. Finally, Hovde Group started coverage on Provident Financial Services in a research report on Friday, December 13th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $25.00 price objective for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $23.50.

Insider Activity at Provident Financial Services

In other Provident Financial Services news, EVP James A. Christy sold 3,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.88, for a total transaction of $73,080.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 34,254 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $715,223.52. This represents a 9.27 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 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.