Peoples Financial Services (NASDAQ:PFIS) Stock: Insider Jeffrey Drobins Sells 2,500 Shares

Peoples Financial Services Corp. (NASDAQ:PFIS) EVP Jeffrey Drobins sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.47, for a total transaction of $186,175.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 3,563 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $265,336.61. This trade represents a 41.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Peoples Financial Services Stock Performance

NASDAQ PFIS opened at $72.58 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.99 and a quick ratio of 0.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $726.53 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.02 and a beta of 0.77. The company’s fifty day moving average is $70.26 and its two-hundred day moving average is $62.91. Peoples Financial Services Corp. has a 52-week low of $46.07 and a 52-week high of $76.49.

Peoples Financial Services (NASDAQ:PFIS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.90 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.71 by $0.19. Peoples Financial Services had a net margin of 20.51% and a return on equity of 11.75%. The business had revenue of $52.97 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $53.80 million. Equities research analysts forecast that Peoples Financial Services Corp. will post 6.37 EPS for the current year.

Peoples Financial Services Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 15th. Investors of record on Monday, November 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.6250 per share. This represents a $2.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.4%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 30th. Peoples Financial Services’s payout ratio is currently 41.39%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Peoples Financial Services

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in Peoples Financial Services by 5.9% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 316,621 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $16,886,000 after buying an additional 17,655 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new stake in Peoples Financial Services in the second quarter valued at $3,494,000. Empowered Funds LLC bought a new stake in Peoples Financial Services in the second quarter valued at $3,987,000. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in Peoples Financial Services in the second quarter valued at $49,412,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new position in Peoples Financial Services during the second quarter worth $917,000. 31.67% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Peoples Financial Services Company Profile

Peoples Financial Services Corp. is a bank holding company whose principal subsidiary, Peoples Security Bank and Trust Company, provides community banking services. The company serves individuals, businesses, and nonprofit organizations, with a presence across northeastern and central Pennsylvania. Its services include checking and savings accounts, certificates of deposit, residential mortgages, consumer loans, and commercial lending. Customers can also access online and mobile banking and business cash-management services.