Insider Selling: Provident Financial Services (NYSE:PFS) Chairman Sells 1,050 Shares of Stock

Provident Financial Services, Inc (NYSE:PFS) Chairman Christopher Martin sold 1,050 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.45, for a total value of $24,622.50. Following the transaction, the chairman owned 600,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,070,000. The trade was a 0.17% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink.

Provident Financial Services Trading Up 1.4%

PFS traded up $0.32 during trading on Friday, hitting $23.88. 90,497 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 961,020. Provident Financial Services, Inc has a 1 year low of $14.34 and a 1 year high of $23.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.02. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $20.62 and a 200 day simple moving average of $19.58. The firm has a market cap of $3.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.71 and a beta of 0.86.

Provident Financial Services (NYSE:PFS) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $225.03 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $224.08 million. Provident Financial Services had a net margin of 21.06% and a return on equity of 10.69%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.37 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Provident Financial Services, Inc will post 2.14 EPS for the current year.

Provident Financial Services Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 27th. Investors of record on Friday, February 13th will be given a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 13th. Provident Financial Services’s dividend payout ratio is currently 43.05%.

Provident Financial Services announced that its board has approved a share repurchase plan on Monday, January 26th that allows the company to repurchase $2.81 million in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the savings and loans company to purchase up to 0.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PFS has been the topic of several analyst reports. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $25.00 target price on Provident Financial Services in a report on Thursday, January 29th. DA Davidson lowered Provident Financial Services from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, October 20th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Provident Financial Services in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of Provident Financial Services from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. One investment 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.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $23.70.

Institutional Trading of Provident Financial Services

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Royal Bank of Canada raised its position in shares of Provident Financial Services by 23.9% during the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 44,106 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $758,000 after buying an additional 8,507 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its stake in Provident Financial Services by 4.6% during the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 74,926 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $1,286,000 after acquiring an additional 3,277 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its position in Provident Financial Services by 6.3% in the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 256,739 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $4,408,000 after purchasing an additional 15,112 shares during the period. Jane Street Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Provident Financial Services by 247.5% in the 1st quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 312,478 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $5,365,000 after purchasing an additional 222,549 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Provident Financial Services by 45.6% during the 1st quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 73,261 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $1,258,000 after purchasing an additional 22,961 shares during the period. 71.97% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.