Provident Financial Services, Inc. (PFS) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.24 on May 31st

Provident Financial Services, Inc. (NYSE:PFS) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, April 18th, Zacks reports. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 29th will be given a dividend of 0.24 per share by the savings and loans company on Friday, May 31st. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.18%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 26th.

Provident Financial Services has raised its dividend payment by an average of 1.4% per year over the last three years. Provident Financial Services has a payout ratio of 45.3% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Provident Financial Services to earn $2.04 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.96 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 47.1%.

Provident Financial Services Trading Up 2.2 %

Shares of NYSE:PFS opened at $15.53 on Wednesday. Provident Financial Services has a 1 year low of $13.21 and a 1 year high of $19.62. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.71 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 1.07. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $14.75 and its 200-day moving average price is $15.66.

Provident Financial Services (NYSE:PFS) last announced its earnings results on Friday, April 19th. The savings and loans company reported $0.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40 by $0.03. Provident Financial Services had a return on equity of 7.31% and a net margin of 16.78%. The firm had revenue of $114.48 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $114.50 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.54 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 12.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Provident Financial Services will post 1.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on PFS. TheStreet downgraded Provident Financial Services from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. DA Davidson raised Provident Financial Services from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $15.00 to $20.00 in a research note on Monday. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Provident Financial Services from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday. StockNews.com raised Provident Financial Services from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price on Provident Financial Services from $20.00 to $17.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Provident Financial Services presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $19.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Robert Mcnerney sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.86, for a total transaction of $89,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 9,475 shares in the company, valued at approximately $169,223.50. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 4.44% of the company’s stock.

Provident Financial Services Company Profile

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.