Provident Financial Services, Inc. (NYSE:PFS) Announces $0.24 Quarterly Dividend

Provident Financial Services, Inc. (NYSE:PFS) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, April 18th, Zacks reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 29th will be given a dividend of 0.24 per share by the savings and loans company on Friday, May 31st. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.18%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 26th.

Provident Financial Services has increased its dividend payment by an average of 1.4% annually over the last three years. Provident Financial Services has a dividend payout ratio of 45.3% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Provident Financial Services to earn $2.04 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.96 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 47.1%.

Provident Financial Services Stock Performance

Shares of PFS stock opened at $15.54 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $14.75 and a 200 day moving average price of $15.66. The stock has a market cap of $1.17 billion, a PE ratio of 9.71 and a beta of 1.07. Provident Financial Services has a 1 year low of $13.21 and a 1 year high of $19.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a current ratio of 1.08.

Provident Financial Services (NYSE:PFS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 19th. The savings and loans company reported $0.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.40 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $114.48 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $114.50 million. Provident Financial Services had a return on equity of 7.31% and a net margin of 16.78%. Provident Financial Services’s revenue was down 12.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.54 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Provident Financial Services will post 1.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Robert Mcnerney sold 5,000 shares of Provident Financial Services stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.86, for a total value of $89,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 9,475 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $169,223.50. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 4.29% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on Provident Financial Services from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday. DA Davidson raised Provident Financial Services from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $15.00 to $20.00 in a report on Monday. StockNews.com raised Provident Financial Services from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday. TheStreet downgraded Provident Financial Services from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 13th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on Provident Financial Services from $20.00 to $17.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Provident Financial Services has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $19.00.

About Provident Financial Services

Provident Financial Services, Inc operates as the bank holding company for Provident Bank that provides various banking products and services to individuals, families, and businesses in the United States. Its deposit products include savings, checking, interest-bearing checking, money market deposit, and certificate of deposit accounts, as well as IRA products.