Insider Selling: Peoples Financial Services (NASDAQ:PFIS) EVP Sells $44,322.30 in Stock

Peoples Financial Services Corp. (NASDAQ:PFIS) EVP James Chiaro sold 605 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.26, for a total value of $44,322.30. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 3,100 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $227,106. This represents a 16.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website.

Peoples Financial Services Stock Performance

PFIS stock traded down $1.42 on Friday, reaching $71.52. 21,182 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 53,462. Peoples Financial Services Corp. has a 12 month low of $45.95 and a 12 month high of $76.49. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $70.06 and its 200 day moving average price is $62.60. The firm has a market capitalization of $715.90 million, a PE ratio of 11.83 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 0.99 and a quick ratio of 0.99.

Peoples Financial Services (NASDAQ:PFIS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.90 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.71 by $0.19. The firm had revenue of $52.97 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $53.80 million. Peoples Financial Services had a net margin of 20.51% and a return on equity of 11.76%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Peoples Financial Services Corp. will post 6.37 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Peoples Financial Services Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 30th will be given a dividend of $0.6250 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 30th. This represents a $2.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.5%. Peoples Financial Services’s dividend payout ratio is currently 41.39%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Peoples Financial Services from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Hovde Group boosted their price target on Peoples Financial Services from $61.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th. Finally, Zacks Research raised Peoples Financial Services to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, September 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $65.50.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in Peoples Financial Services during the second quarter worth $49,412,000. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC raised its stake in shares of Peoples Financial Services by 466.7% in the 3rd quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 79,954 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,386,000 after buying an additional 65,846 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC acquired a new position in shares of Peoples Financial Services in the 2nd quarter valued at $3,987,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new position in shares of Peoples Financial Services during the 2nd quarter worth about $3,494,000. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Peoples Financial Services by 5.9% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 316,621 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $16,886,000 after acquiring an additional 17,655 shares during the period. 31.67% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Peoples Financial Services Company Profile

Peoples Financial Services Corp. is the bank holding company for Peoples Security Bank and Trust Company, a community banking institution headquartered in Scranton, Pennsylvania. The bank provides financial services to individuals, businesses, nonprofit organizations and municipal customers.

Its offerings include checking and savings accounts, certificates of deposit, residential and commercial real estate loans, consumer lending, business loans, lines of credit and other treasury-management services.