Provident Financial Services (NYSE:PFS) Issues Earnings Results, Misses Estimates By $0.13 EPS

Provident Financial Services (NYSE:PFS) announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday. The savings and loans company reported $0.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.50 by ($0.13), Zacks reports. Provident Financial Services had a net margin of 9.55% and a return on equity of 5.21%.

Provident Financial Services Stock Performance

Shares of PFS stock opened at $18.35 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $19.64 and a 200-day moving average price of $19.02. Provident Financial Services has a 52 week low of $13.07 and a 52 week high of $22.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.39 billion, a PE ratio of 17.64 and a beta of 1.08.

Provident Financial Services Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.23%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. Provident Financial Services’s payout ratio is presently 92.31%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Provident Financial Services news, EVP James A. Christy sold 3,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 11th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at approximately $715,223.52. The trade was a 9.27 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 4.29% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently issued reports on PFS. StockNews.com raised Provident Financial Services from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday. DA Davidson lifted their target price on shares of Provident Financial Services from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Hovde Group assumed coverage on shares of Provident Financial Services in a report on Friday, December 13th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $25.00 price target on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Provident Financial Services presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $23.50.

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.