Comerica Bank Has $867,000 Position in Provident Financial Services, Inc. (NYSE:PFS)

Comerica Bank decreased its holdings in shares of Provident Financial Services, Inc. (NYSE:PFS) by 4.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 45,932 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock after selling 2,073 shares during the period. Comerica Bank’s holdings in Provident Financial Services were worth $867,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of PFS. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Provident Financial Services by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,605,199 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $275,600,000 after acquiring an additional 51,253 shares in the last quarter. PL Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Provident Financial Services by 1,787.0% during the 4th quarter. PL Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,533,618 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $47,809,000 after purchasing an additional 2,399,351 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in Provident Financial Services by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,456,401 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $46,352,000 after purchasing an additional 81,617 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Provident Financial Services by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,825,993 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $34,456,000 after purchasing an additional 33,201 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC boosted its position in shares of Provident Financial Services by 6.9% during the fourth quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 1,692,001 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $31,928,000 after buying an additional 109,923 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.97% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on PFS. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on shares of Provident Financial Services from $24.00 to $23.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. StockNews.com raised Provident Financial Services from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, February 15th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on Provident Financial Services from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $24.25.

Provident Financial Services Stock Performance

Provident Financial Services stock opened at $17.99 on Wednesday. Provident Financial Services, Inc. has a 1-year low of $13.07 and a 1-year high of $22.24. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.35 billion, a PE ratio of 17.13 and a beta of 0.84. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $16.46 and its 200 day simple moving average is $18.43.

Provident Financial Services (NYSE:PFS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The savings and loans company reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.47 by $0.03. Provident Financial Services had a net margin of 10.13% and a return on equity of 5.60%. The firm had revenue of $208.76 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $206.86 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.43 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 82.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Provident Financial Services, Inc. will post 2.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Provident Financial Services Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be paid a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.34%. Provident Financial Services’s dividend payout ratio is currently 86.49%.

Provident Financial Services Company Profile

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.