Public Sector Pension Investment Board Sells 10,300 Shares of Provident Financial Services, Inc. (NYSE:PFS)

Public Sector Pension Investment Board lowered its position in Provident Financial Services, Inc. (NYSE:PFS) by 3.6% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 276,878 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock after selling 10,300 shares during the period. Public Sector Pension Investment Board’s holdings in Provident Financial Services were worth $5,139,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. LMR Partners LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Provident Financial Services during the 3rd quarter valued at about $508,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC acquired a new stake in Provident Financial Services during the second quarter valued at approximately $6,990,000. Royce & Associates LP bought a new stake in Provident Financial Services in the third quarter valued at $766,000. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its holdings in shares of Provident Financial Services by 37.8% during the second quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 222,849 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $3,198,000 after acquiring an additional 61,179 shares during the period. Finally, Foundry Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Provident Financial Services in the 2nd quarter valued at $2,613,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.97% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Provident Financial Services from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $20.00 to $21.00 in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. DA Davidson lifted their price objective 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. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Provident Financial Services from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $23.00.

Provident Financial Services Trading Down 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE PFS opened at $21.12 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 1.03. Provident Financial Services, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $13.07 and a fifty-two week high of $22.24. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $19.61 and its 200 day simple moving average is $17.52. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.31 and a beta of 1.03.

Provident Financial Services (NYSE:PFS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The savings and loans company reported $0.36 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47 by ($0.11). Provident Financial Services had a return on equity of 5.21% and a net margin of 9.55%. The firm had revenue of $349.38 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $211.25 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.38 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Provident Financial Services, Inc. will post 1.84 EPS for the current year.

Provident Financial Services Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 29th. Investors of record on Friday, November 15th were given a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 15th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.55%. Provident Financial Services’s dividend payout ratio is currently 92.31%.

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.