Short Interest in Peoples Financial Services Corp. (NASDAQ:PFIS) Grows By 19.6%

Peoples Financial Services Corp. (NASDAQ:PFIS) saw a significant growth in short interest in February. As of February 15th, there was short interest totalling 61,000 shares, a growth of 19.6% from the January 31st total of 51,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 30,100 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.0 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PFIS has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Stephens upgraded shares of Peoples Financial Services from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Hovde Group upped their price objective on shares of Peoples Financial Services from $48.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Peoples Financial Services from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th.

Peoples Financial Services Price Performance

Shares of Peoples Financial Services stock traded down $0.68 during trading on Thursday, reaching $46.43. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 5,295 shares, compared to its average volume of 27,301. Peoples Financial Services has a one year low of $36.26 and a one year high of $59.70. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $50.40 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $49.74. The stock has a market capitalization of $464.07 million, a P/E ratio of 41.09 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

Peoples Financial Services (NASDAQ:PFIS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The financial services provider reported $0.99 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.16 by ($0.17). Peoples Financial Services had a net margin of 3.70% and a return on equity of 8.97%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Peoples Financial Services will post 5.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Peoples Financial Services Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be given a dividend of $0.6175 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. This represents a $2.47 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.32%. Peoples Financial Services’s dividend payout ratio is 218.58%.

Institutional Trading of Peoples Financial Services

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC bought a new stake in shares of Peoples Financial Services in the fourth quarter worth about $1,921,000. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Peoples Financial Services by 14.9% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 211,451 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $9,914,000 after buying an additional 27,463 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Peoples Financial Services during the 4th quarter worth approximately $938,000. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its stake in Peoples Financial Services by 58.6% in the third quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 45,345 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,126,000 after buying an additional 16,753 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Peoples Financial Services by 377.8% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 20,442 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $958,000 after buying an additional 16,164 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 31.67% of the company’s stock.

Peoples Financial Services Company Profile

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.