Provident Financial Services, Inc. (NYSE:PFS) Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.24

Provident Financial Services, Inc. (NYSE:PFS) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, April 18th, Zacks reports. Investors 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 dividend on an annualized basis 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 dividend 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 Stock Up 2.2 %

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

Provident Financial Services (NYSE:PFS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 19th. The savings and loans company reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $114.48 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $114.50 million. Provident Financial Services had a return on equity of 7.31% and a net margin of 16.78%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 12.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.54 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Provident Financial Services will post 1.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Robert Mcnerney sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.86, for a total value of $89,300.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 9,475 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $169,223.50. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 4.44% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

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.