Wellington Management Group LLP Sells 2,685,628 Shares of Provident Financial Services, Inc $PFS

Wellington Management Group LLP lowered its holdings in shares of Provident Financial Services, Inc (NYSE:PFS) by 46.4% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 3,101,027 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock after selling 2,685,628 shares during the quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP’s holdings in Provident Financial Services were worth $73,308,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new position in shares of Provident Financial Services in the second quarter worth approximately $36,916,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its holdings in Provident Financial Services by 38.1% during the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,239,628 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $24,483,000 after buying an additional 342,301 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Provident Financial Services by 251.3% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 413,107 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $7,242,000 after buying an additional 295,521 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in Provident Financial Services by 3.3% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 8,070,734 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $170,775,000 after acquiring an additional 256,540 shares during the period. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its position in Provident Financial Services by 493.6% in the fourth quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 301,329 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $5,951,000 after acquiring an additional 250,566 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.97% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PFS has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Stephens started coverage on shares of Provident Financial Services in a research report on Monday, June 8th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $24.00 price objective for the company. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $29.00 price target (up from $26.00) on shares of Provident Financial Services in a report on Friday, July 31st. Hovde Group upped their price target on Provident Financial Services from $26.50 to $28.50 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Raymond James Financial raised their price objective on Provident Financial Services from $25.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 1st. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $28.00 price objective (up from $26.00) on shares of Provident Financial Services in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $26.79.

Provident Financial Services Price Performance

Shares of Provident Financial Services stock opened at $23.39 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $3.05 billion, a PE ratio of 9.75 and a beta of 0.78. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $23.97 and a 200 day moving average of $22.69. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99. Provident Financial Services, Inc has a 12 month low of $17.69 and a 12 month high of $25.49.

Provident Financial Services (NYSE:PFS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The savings and loans company reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.56 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $234.96 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $225.57 million. Provident Financial Services had a return on equity of 11.00% and a net margin of 22.15%.During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.55 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Provident Financial Services, Inc will post 2.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Provident Financial Services Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 14th were paid a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 14th. Provident Financial Services’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 40.00%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Thomas Shara sold 40,266 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.06, for a total value of $928,533.96. Following the sale, the director directly owned 382,911 shares in the company, valued at $8,829,927.66. The trade was a 9.52% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Vito Giannola sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.36, for a total transaction of $487,200.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 56,424 shares in the company, valued at $1,374,488.64. This represents a 26.17% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 76,166 shares of company stock valued at $1,786,204 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 3.02% of the company’s stock.

Provident Financial Services Company Profile

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.