Royce & Associates LP Purchases 3,317 Shares of Provident Financial Services, Inc. (NYSE:PFS)

Royce & Associates LP lifted its position in Provident Financial Services, Inc. (NYSE:PFS) by 8.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 44,601 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock after buying an additional 3,317 shares during the quarter. Royce & Associates LP’s holdings in Provident Financial Services were worth $842,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Provident Financial Services by 120.6% in the 3rd quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 1,500 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 820 shares in the last quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC bought a new stake in shares of Provident Financial Services in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $99,000. KBC Group NV grew its stake in shares of Provident Financial Services by 40.7% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 6,387 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $121,000 after buying an additional 1,848 shares in the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Provident Financial Services by 141.1% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 7,533 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $142,000 after buying an additional 4,408 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allworth Financial LP grew its stake in shares of Provident Financial Services by 35,936.4% in the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 7,928 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $151,000 after buying an additional 7,906 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.97% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on PFS shares. 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 target price for the company. StockNews.com raised Provident Financial Services from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 15th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on Provident Financial Services from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $24.00.

Provident Financial Services Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of Provident Financial Services stock opened at $16.87 on Friday. Provident Financial Services, Inc. has a 12-month low of $13.07 and a 12-month high of $22.24. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.07 and a beta of 1.06. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $18.26 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $19.01. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95.

Provident Financial Services (NYSE:PFS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The savings and loans company reported $0.37 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.50 by ($0.13). Provident Financial Services had a return on equity of 5.60% and a net margin of 10.13%. Equities analysts expect that Provident Financial Services, Inc. will post 2.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Provident Financial Services Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th were issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.69%. Provident Financial Services’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 91.43%.

Provident Financial Services 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.