Oliver Luxxe Assets LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in Provident Financial Services, Inc $PFS

Oliver Luxxe Assets LLC lowered its stake in shares of Provident Financial Services, Inc (NYSE:PFS) by 46.1% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 49,837 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock after selling 42,681 shares during the quarter. Oliver Luxxe Assets LLC’s holdings in Provident Financial Services were worth $1,178,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PFS. Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Provident Financial Services by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 45,333 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $895,000 after buying an additional 456 shares during the last quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund grew its position in shares of Provident Financial Services by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 29,888 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $590,000 after buying an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC grew its position in shares of Provident Financial Services by 3.4% in the 1st quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 19,782 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $419,000 after buying an additional 652 shares during the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Provident Financial Services by 17.4% during the 4th quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 4,752 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $94,000 after acquiring an additional 705 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Provident Financial Services by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 25,075 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $495,000 after acquiring an additional 769 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.97% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $28.00 target price (up from $26.00) on shares of Provident Financial Services in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. DA Davidson set a $26.00 price target on Provident Financial Services in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Stephens started coverage on Provident Financial Services in a report on Monday, June 8th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $24.00 price objective for the company. Hovde Group raised their price objective 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. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Provident Financial Services in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $26.79.

Provident Financial Services Stock Performance

PFS opened at $24.48 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $3.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.20 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $23.55 and its 200-day moving average price is $22.47. Provident Financial Services, Inc has a 52-week low of $17.69 and a 52-week high of $25.49.

Provident Financial Services (NYSE:PFS) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The savings and loans company reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.56 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $232.96 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $225.57 million. Provident Financial Services had a net margin of 22.15% and a return on equity of 11.00%. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.55 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Provident Financial Services, Inc will post 2.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Provident Financial Services Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 14th will be issued a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 14th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.9%. Provident Financial Services’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 40.00%.

Provident Financial Services 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.