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

Provident Financial Services, Inc. (NYSE:PFS) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, October 29th, NASDAQ reports. Investors of record on Friday, November 15th will be paid a dividend of 0.24 per share by the savings and loans company on Friday, November 29th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.04%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 15th.

Provident Financial Services has raised its dividend by an average of 1.4% per year over the last three years. Provident Financial Services has a dividend payout ratio of 43.2% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Provident Financial Services to earn $2.18 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 44.0%.

Provident Financial Services Price Performance

Shares of PFS opened at $19.03 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $2.48 billion, a PE ratio of 18.30 and a beta of 1.03. Provident Financial Services has a 52-week low of $13.07 and a 52-week high of $19.97. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $18.63 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $16.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.03.

Provident Financial Services (NYSE:PFS) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The savings and loans company reported $0.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.46 by ($0.10). The company had revenue of $349.38 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $211.25 million. Provident Financial Services had a net margin of 9.38% and a return on equity of 4.95%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.38 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Provident Financial Services will post 1.72 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Provident Financial Services news, EVP Vito Giannola sold 5,499 shares of Provident Financial Services stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.09, for a total transaction of $99,476.91. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 88,656 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,603,787.04. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 4.29% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently commented on PFS shares. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Provident Financial Services from $18.00 to $21.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised Provident Financial Services from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $20.00 to $21.00 in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Provident Financial Services from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $20.67.

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.