Peoples Financial Services Corp. Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.62 (NASDAQ:PFIS)

Peoples Financial Services Corp. (NASDAQ:PFIS) declared a quarterly dividend on Monday, February 3rd,Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th will be given a dividend of 0.6175 per share by the financial services provider on Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.47 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.83%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th.

Peoples Financial Services has raised its dividend payment by an average of 11.1% per year over the last three years. Peoples Financial Services has a payout ratio of 36.8% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Peoples Financial Services to earn $5.92 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.47 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 41.7%.

Peoples Financial Services Price Performance

NASDAQ PFIS traded down $0.38 on Monday, reaching $51.09. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 12,099 shares, compared to its average volume of 29,680. Peoples Financial Services has a twelve month low of $36.26 and a twelve month high of $59.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 0.93. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $52.29 and its two-hundred day moving average is $49.09. The stock has a market cap of $510.39 million, a PE ratio of 49.60 and a beta of 0.56.

Peoples Financial Services (NASDAQ:PFIS) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The financial services provider reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.08 by $0.56. The business had revenue of $74.01 million during the quarter. Peoples Financial Services had a net margin of 3.00% and a return on equity of 7.73%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Peoples Financial Services will post 4.39 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on PFIS shares. StockNews.com upgraded Peoples Financial Services from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Hovde Group lifted their price target on Peoples Financial Services from $48.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Stephens raised shares of Peoples Financial Services from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th.

About Peoples Financial Services

Peoples Financial Services Corp. operates as the bank holding company for Peoples Security Bank and Trust Company that provides various commercial and retail banking services. The company accepts money market, negotiable order of withdrawal, savings, individual retirement, demand deposit, and certificates of deposit accounts.