Insider Selling: Provident Financial Services (NYSE:PFS) Director Sells 40,266 Shares of Stock

Provident Financial Services, Inc (NYSE:PFS) Director Thomas Shara sold 40,266 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.06, for a total transaction of $928,533.96. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 382,911 shares in the company, valued at $8,829,927.66. The trade was a 9.52% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink.

Thomas Shara also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Monday, August 31st, Thomas Shara sold 15,900 shares of Provident Financial Services stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.30, for a total value of $370,470.00.

Provident Financial Services Price Performance

PFS stock traded down $0.45 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $22.95. The company had a trading volume of 814,764 shares, compared to its average volume of 966,686. The business has a 50 day moving average of $23.98 and a 200 day moving average of $22.69. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.56 and a beta of 0.78. Provident Financial Services, Inc has a fifty-two week low of $17.69 and a fifty-two week high of $25.49.

Provident Financial Services (NYSE:PFS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The savings and loans company reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.56 by $0.04. Provident Financial Services had a net margin of 22.15% and a return on equity of 11.00%. The business had revenue of $234.96 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $225.57 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.55 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Provident Financial Services, Inc will post 2.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Provident Financial Services Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 14th were paid a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 14th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.2%. Provident Financial Services’s payout ratio is currently 40.00%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have commented on PFS shares. Stephens assumed coverage on shares of Provident Financial Services in a research note on Monday, June 8th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $24.00 price objective for the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $28.00 price target (up from $26.00) on shares of Provident Financial Services in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. DA Davidson set a $26.00 price objective on shares of Provident Financial Services in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Provident Financial Services in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, Raymond James Financial upped their price target on shares of Provident Financial Services from $25.00 to $27.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $26.79.

Institutional Trading of Provident Financial Services

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Bank of America Corp DE raised its position in Provident Financial Services by 23.4% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 624,648 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $13,218,000 after purchasing an additional 118,432 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its stake in shares of Provident Financial Services by 82.0% in the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 341,162 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $7,219,000 after purchasing an additional 153,698 shares during the period. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Provident Financial Services in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $4,209,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new position in shares of Provident Financial Services in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $36,916,000. Finally, Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Provident Financial Services in the 1st quarter worth approximately $2,868,000. 71.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.