Peoples Financial Services (NASDAQ:PFIS) Raised to “Hold” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Peoples Financial Services (NASDAQ:PFIS) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a report published on Saturday.

Peoples Financial Services Stock Up 0.9 %

PFIS stock opened at $46.88 on Friday. Peoples Financial Services has a fifty-two week low of $36.26 and a fifty-two week high of $51.00. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $46.28 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $42.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 0.92. The company has a market capitalization of $330.83 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.38 and a beta of 0.51.

Peoples Financial Services (NASDAQ:PFIS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.52 by $0.07. Peoples Financial Services had a return on equity of 5.93% and a net margin of 10.07%. The firm had revenue of $41.92 million for the quarter. As a group, analysts forecast that Peoples Financial Services will post 3.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Peoples Financial Services Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 30th were paid a dividend of $0.618 per share. This is a boost from Peoples Financial Services’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. This represents a $2.47 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.27%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 30th. Peoples Financial Services’s payout ratio is presently 75.77%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Richard S. Lochen, Jr. purchased 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $43.90 per share, for a total transaction of $43,900.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 15,555 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $682,864.50. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders have purchased 1,604 shares of company stock valued at $73,008 over the last ninety days. 4.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Peoples Financial Services

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in PFIS. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC grew its position in Peoples Financial Services by 2.6% during the 2nd quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 8,749 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $398,000 after purchasing an additional 220 shares during the period. Rhumbline Advisers increased its holdings in shares of Peoples Financial Services by 14.5% during the 2nd quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 12,450 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $567,000 after buying an additional 1,576 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its holdings in Peoples Financial Services by 87.7% in the 1st quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 3,400 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $147,000 after purchasing an additional 1,589 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC increased its holdings in Peoples Financial Services by 7.8% in the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 26,612 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,147,000 after purchasing an additional 1,925 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quadrature Capital Ltd boosted its position in Peoples Financial Services by 46.7% in the 1st quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd now owns 10,707 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $460,000 after buying an additional 3,409 shares during the period. 31.67% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Peoples Financial Services

Peoples Financial Services Corp. operates as the bank holding company for Peoples Security Bank and Trust Company that provides various commercial and retail banking services. The company accepts money market, negotiable order of withdrawal, savings, individual retirement, demand deposit, and certificates of deposit accounts.