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

Provident Financial Services, Inc. (NYSE:PFS) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, April 18th, Zacks reports. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 29th will be paid 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 yield of 6.18%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 26th.

Provident Financial Services has raised its dividend payment by an average of 1.4% per year over the last three years. Provident Financial Services has a payout ratio of 45.3% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. 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 Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE PFS opened at $15.54 on Thursday. 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 has a 52-week low of $13.21 and a 52-week high of $19.62. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $14.75 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $15.66. The stock has a market cap of $1.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.71 and a beta of 1.07.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on PFS. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Provident Financial Services from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on shares of 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. DA Davidson upgraded shares of Provident Financial Services from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $15.00 to $20.00 in a research report on Monday. TheStreet lowered shares of Provident Financial Services from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of Provident Financial Services from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Provident Financial Services currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $19.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Robert Mcnerney sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.86, for a total transaction of $89,300.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 9,475 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $169,223.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 4.29% of the stock is owned by 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.