Provident Financial Services (NYSE:PFS) Upgraded to Hold at StockNews.com

Provident Financial Services (NYSE:PFS) was upgraded by research analysts at StockNews.com from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a note issued to investors on Thursday.

PFS has been the topic of several other reports. DA Davidson lifted their price objective on shares of Provident Financial Services from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Provident Financial Services from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $20.00 to $21.00 in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Provident Financial Services currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $23.00.

Provident Financial Services Price Performance

Provident Financial Services stock traded up $0.04 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $21.33. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 491,430 shares, compared to its average volume of 873,326. The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.51 and a beta of 1.03. Provident Financial Services has a twelve month low of $13.07 and a twelve month high of $22.24. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $19.56 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $17.47.

Provident Financial Services (NYSE:PFS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The savings and loans company reported $0.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.47 by ($0.11). The business had revenue of $349.38 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $211.25 million. Provident Financial Services had a return on equity of 5.21% and a net margin of 9.55%. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.38 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Provident Financial Services will post 1.84 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Provident Financial Services

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. LMR Partners LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Provident Financial Services during the 3rd quarter valued at $508,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Provident Financial Services during the 2nd quarter valued at $6,990,000. Royce & Associates LP acquired a new stake in shares of Provident Financial Services during the 3rd quarter valued at $766,000. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its stake in shares of Provident Financial Services by 37.8% during the 2nd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 222,849 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $3,198,000 after buying an additional 61,179 shares during the period. Finally, Foundry Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Provident Financial Services during the 2nd quarter valued at $2,613,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.97% of the company’s stock.

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.