Provident Financial Services (NYSE:PFS) Raised to Hold at DA Davidson

Provident Financial Services (NYSE:PFS) was upgraded by research analysts at DA Davidson to a “hold” rating in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other brokerages have also weighed in on PFS. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Provident Financial Services in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $25.00 price objective on shares of Provident Financial Services in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on shares of Provident Financial Services from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $23.90.

Provident Financial Services Price Performance

NYSE:PFS opened at $21.91 on Tuesday. Provident Financial Services has a 52 week low of $14.34 and a 52 week high of $23.98. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $21.37 and its two-hundred day moving average is $20.03. The company has a market capitalization of $2.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.83 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90.

Provident Financial Services (NYSE:PFS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 27th. The savings and loans company reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.56 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $225.03 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $224.08 million. Provident Financial Services had a return on equity of 10.69% and a net margin of 21.06%.The company’s revenue was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.37 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Provident Financial Services will post 2.14 EPS for the current year.

Provident Financial Services announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Monday, January 26th that authorizes the company to repurchase $2.81 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the savings and loans company to repurchase up to 0.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of PFS. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Provident Financial Services by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,814,194 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $154,331,000 after buying an additional 125,104 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Provident Financial Services by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,046,392 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $139,166,000 after acquiring an additional 41,961 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in Provident Financial Services by 5.5% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 6,710,987 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $132,542,000 after acquiring an additional 351,889 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Provident Financial Services by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,069,463 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $53,815,000 after acquiring an additional 41,758 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in shares of Provident Financial Services by 40.4% in the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,308,774 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $44,513,000 after purchasing an additional 664,021 shares during the last quarter. 71.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Provident Financial Services

Provident Financial Services, Inc is the bank holding company for Provident Bank, a regional commercial bank headquartered in Jersey City, New Jersey. The company operates a network of full-service branches across New Jersey, the New York metropolitan area and eastern Pennsylvania, offering a range of personal and business banking solutions.

Its core products and services include checking and savings accounts, consumer and residential mortgage loans, commercial real estate financing and small-business lending.