Jefferies Financial Group Upgrades PennyMac Financial Services (NYSE:PFSI) to Strong-Buy

PennyMac Financial Services (NYSE:PFSI) was upgraded by equities researchers at Jefferies Financial Group to a “strong-buy” rating in a report issued on Friday,Zacks.com reports.

Other equities analysts have also issued reports about the company. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of PennyMac Financial Services in a report on Friday, October 31st. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on PennyMac Financial Services from $115.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Zacks Research upgraded PennyMac Financial Services from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, October 6th. BTIG Research reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $135.00 target price on shares of PennyMac Financial Services in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on PennyMac Financial Services from $136.00 to $139.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $142.43.

PennyMac Financial Services Stock Performance

PFSI stock opened at $133.91 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $127.98 and a two-hundred day moving average of $114.06. PennyMac Financial Services has a 12 month low of $85.74 and a 12 month high of $137.53. The company has a market capitalization of $6.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.43 and a beta of 1.58. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.01.

PennyMac Financial Services (NYSE:PFSI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 21st. The real estate investment trust reported $3.37 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.98 by $0.39. PennyMac Financial Services had a net margin of 25.21% and a return on equity of 11.69%. The business had revenue of $632.90 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $573.46 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.30 EPS. PennyMac Financial Services’s revenue for the quarter was up 53.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that PennyMac Financial Services will post 13.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO David Spector sold 71,161 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $128.07, for a total transaction of $9,113,589.27. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 577,859 shares in the company, valued at $74,006,402.13. This represents a 10.96% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Doug Jones sold 23,453 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $127.56, for a total transaction of $2,991,664.68. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 19,056 shares in the company, valued at $2,430,783.36. This represents a 55.17% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 218,129 shares of company stock valued at $28,164,517 in the last three months. 15.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. grew its position in PennyMac Financial Services by 26.3% during the third quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 504 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $62,000 after buying an additional 105 shares in the last quarter. AlphaQuest LLC lifted its position in shares of PennyMac Financial Services by 4.4% in the 1st quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 2,587 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $259,000 after acquiring an additional 110 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of PennyMac Financial Services by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 16,034 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,598,000 after purchasing an additional 111 shares in the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. increased its position in shares of PennyMac Financial Services by 0.7% during the third quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 22,145 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,743,000 after purchasing an additional 146 shares during the period. Finally, CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co lifted its position in PennyMac Financial Services by 1.0% in the third quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 16,236 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,026,000 after purchasing an additional 163 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.87% of the company’s stock.

About PennyMac Financial Services

PennyMac Financial Services, Inc (NYSE: PFSI) is a leading mortgage banking company based in Westlake Village, California. The firm operates through two primary business segments: Production and Mortgage Servicing Rights (MSR). In its Production segment, PennyMac originates residential mortgage loans through retail, wholesale and correspondent channels, focusing on both purchase and refinance transactions. The MSR segment involves the acquisition and servicing of mortgage loans, whereby the company earns fees for managing loan portfolios on behalf of investors.

Since its founding in 2008, PennyMac has grown through a combination of organic origination and strategic acquisition of servicing rights, positioning itself as one of the largest residential mortgage loan servicers in the United States.