Royal Bank of Canada Increases Provident Financial Services (NYSE:PFS) Price Target to $21.00

Provident Financial Services (NYSE:PFS) had its price objective raised by stock analysts at Royal Bank of Canada from $18.00 to $21.00 in a research report issued on Monday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “outperform” rating on the savings and loans company’s stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s price objective indicates a potential upside of 12.60% from the company’s current price.

PFS has been the topic of a number of other reports. DA Davidson raised Provident Financial Services from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $15.00 to $20.00 in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. StockNews.com upgraded Provident Financial Services from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $20.25.

Provident Financial Services Stock Down 1.9 %

Shares of NYSE:PFS traded down $0.36 during trading on Monday, reaching $18.65. 290,241 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 957,594. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 1.08. Provident Financial Services has a 1-year low of $13.07 and a 1-year high of $19.18. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $14.98 and a two-hundred day moving average of $15.25. The firm has a market cap of $2.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.63 and a beta of 1.03.

Provident Financial Services (NYSE:PFS) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The savings and loans company reported ($0.11) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.28 by ($0.39). Provident Financial Services had a return on equity of 4.95% and a net margin of 9.38%. The firm had revenue of $141.51 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $148.60 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.45 earnings per share. Provident Financial Services’s revenue for the quarter was up 42.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Provident Financial Services will post 1.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Provident Financial Services during the 2nd quarter valued at $163,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in shares of Provident Financial Services by 56.6% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,612,246 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $23,136,000 after buying an additional 582,844 shares during the last quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System lifted its position in shares of Provident Financial Services by 75.7% during the 2nd quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 65,700 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $943,000 after buying an additional 28,300 shares during the last quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Provident Financial Services during the 2nd quarter valued at $1,722,000. Finally, Nisa Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Provident Financial Services by 43.0% during the 2nd quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,050 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $58,000 after buying an additional 1,218 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.97% 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.