Everence Capital Management Inc. Acquires New Position in Provident Financial Services, Inc. (NYSE:PFS)

Everence Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Provident Financial Services, Inc. (NYSE:PFS) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm acquired 14,020 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock, valued at approximately $253,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. BlackRock Inc. grew its holdings in Provident Financial Services by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 11,351,187 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $265,617,000 after buying an additional 70,302 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Provident Financial Services by 1.5% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,217,716 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $160,245,000 after purchasing an additional 124,787 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in Provident Financial Services by 3.4% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,086,247 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $66,769,000 after purchasing an additional 132,482 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Provident Financial Services by 3.1% during the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,261,425 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $34,577,000 after acquiring an additional 68,856 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Provident Financial Services by 3.2% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,461,829 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $23,886,000 after acquiring an additional 45,643 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.97% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. TheStreet downgraded Provident Financial Services from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. DA Davidson dropped their price objective on Provident Financial Services from $17.00 to $15.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on Provident Financial Services from $20.00 to $17.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on Provident Financial Services from $19.00 to $18.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $17.50.

Provident Financial Services Price Performance

Shares of Provident Financial Services stock opened at $13.75 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $1.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.04 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a current ratio of 1.07. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $14.80 and a 200-day moving average price of $15.67. Provident Financial Services, Inc. has a one year low of $13.22 and a one year high of $19.62.

Provident Financial Services (NYSE:PFS) last announced its earnings results on Friday, January 26th. The savings and loans company reported $0.36 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40 by ($0.04). Provident Financial Services had a return on equity of 7.88% and a net margin of 18.46%. The company had revenue of $114.76 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $114.30 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.66 EPS. Provident Financial Services’s revenue for the quarter was down 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Provident Financial Services, Inc. will post 1.63 EPS for the current year.

Provident Financial Services Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 23rd. Investors of record on Friday, February 9th were issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.98%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 8th. Provident Financial Services’s payout ratio is currently 56.14%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Provident Financial Services

In other Provident Financial Services 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 transaction of $89,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 9,475 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $169,223.50. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 4.29% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.