Provident Financial (NASDAQ:PROV) Stock Rating Cut to Hold at Zacks Research

Zacks Research lowered shares of Provident Financial (NASDAQ:PROV) from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a research note published on Thursday morning,Zacks reports.

PROV has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on Provident Financial from $17.00 to $18.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Provident Financial from a “hold (c)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Friday, September 18th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Provident Financial to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $18.00.

Provident Financial Stock Up 0.3%

PROV opened at $18.31 on Thursday. Provident Financial has a 12 month low of $14.95 and a 12 month high of $18.99. The company has a current ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $18.23 and its 200-day moving average price is $17.38. The company has a market cap of $114.07 million, a P/E ratio of 17.78 and a beta of 0.32.

Provident Financial (NASDAQ:PROV) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 28th. The financial services provider reported $0.35 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.29 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $10.59 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.00 million. Provident Financial had a return on equity of 5.23% and a net margin of 11.16%. On average, equities analysts expect that Provident Financial will post 1.22 EPS for the current year.

Provident Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 3rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 13th were given a dividend of $0.14 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 13th. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.1%. Provident Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 54.37%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Provident Financial

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in PROV. Raffles Associates LP purchased a new stake in Provident Financial in the second quarter worth $6,727,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company purchased a new position in Provident Financial during the 2nd quarter valued at $5,224,000. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in Provident Financial in the 2nd quarter worth $4,844,000. Empowered Funds LLC bought a new position in Provident Financial in the 2nd quarter worth $595,000. Finally, Susquehanna International Group LLP lifted its position in shares of Provident Financial by 73.9% in the 2nd quarter. Susquehanna International Group LLP now owns 32,363 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $557,000 after purchasing an additional 13,756 shares during the period. 71.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Provident Financial

Provident Financial Holdings, Inc is the holding company for Provident Savings Bank, FSB, a community-oriented financial institution headquartered in Riverside, California. Through its banking subsidiary, the company serves consumers, businesses and real estate professionals primarily in Southern California, including communities in the Inland Empire and surrounding areas.

Provident Savings Bank offers a range of deposit products, including checking, savings, money market and certificate accounts.