Provident Financial (NASDAQ:PROV) Receives New Coverage from Analysts at StockNews.com

StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Provident Financial (NASDAQ:PROV) in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday. The firm issued a hold rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

Provident Financial Stock Down 0.4 %

PROV stock opened at $13.39 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $13.95 and a 200 day moving average of $12.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $92.79 million, a PE ratio of 11.64 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a quick ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87. Provident Financial has a 52 week low of $10.16 and a 52 week high of $15.40.

Provident Financial (NASDAQ:PROV) last released its earnings results on Monday, January 29th. The financial services provider reported $0.31 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.26 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $9.65 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.00 million. Provident Financial had a net margin of 14.43% and a return on equity of 6.20%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Provident Financial will post 1.05 earnings per share for the current year.

Provident Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 15th were paid a dividend of $0.14 per share. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.18%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 14th. Provident Financial’s payout ratio is 48.70%.

Institutional Trading of Provident Financial

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Raffles Associates LP lifted its stake in Provident Financial by 2.6% during the 1st quarter. Raffles Associates LP now owns 391,349 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,334,000 after acquiring an additional 10,000 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its stake in Provident Financial by 2.5% during the 1st quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 352,267 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,826,000 after acquiring an additional 8,604 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. lifted its stake in Provident Financial by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 290,372 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,702,000 after acquiring an additional 2,413 shares during the period. Baird Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Provident Financial by 6.4% during the 2nd quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 164,062 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,092,000 after purchasing an additional 9,813 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bridgeway Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Provident Financial by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC now owns 67,673 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $853,000 after purchasing an additional 1,896 shares in the last quarter. 71.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Provident Financial Company Profile

Provident Financial Holdings, Inc operates as the holding company for Provident Savings Bank, F.S.B. that provides community banking services to consumers and small to mid-sized businesses in the Inland Empire region of Southern California. The company's deposit products include checking, savings, and money market accounts, as well as time deposits; and loan portfolio consists of single-family, multi-family, commercial real estate, construction, mortgage, commercial business, and consumer loans.