StockNews.com Initiates Coverage on Provident Financial (NASDAQ:PROV)

StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Provident Financial (NASDAQ:PROV) in a research report released on Sunday morning. The brokerage issued a hold rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

Separately, Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on Provident Financial from $13.00 to $14.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st.

Provident Financial Stock Performance

Shares of Provident Financial stock opened at $14.66 on Friday. Provident Financial has a one year low of $10.16 and a one year high of $15.40. The company has a market cap of $100.57 million, a PE ratio of 14.10 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a current ratio of 1.23. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $13.37 and a 200-day simple moving average of $13.17.

Provident Financial (NASDAQ:PROV) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 29th. The financial services provider reported $0.28 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.23 by $0.05. Provident Financial had a return on equity of 5.67% and a net margin of 12.53%. The business had revenue of $15.38 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.57 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.26 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Provident Financial will post 1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Provident Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 5th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 15th were paid a dividend of $0.14 per share. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.82%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 15th. Provident Financial’s payout ratio is 53.85%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Provident Financial

A hedge fund recently raised its stake in Provident Financial stock. Empowered Funds LLC increased its holdings in shares of Provident Financial Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PROV) by 7.4% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 22,831 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,575 shares during the quarter. Empowered Funds LLC owned approximately 0.33% of Provident Financial worth $305,000 at the end of the most recent quarter. Institutional investors own 71.34% of the company’s stock.

About Provident Financial

Provident Financial Holdings, Inc operates as the holding company for Provident Savings Bank, F.S.B. that provides community banking services to consumers and small to mid-sized businesses in the Inland Empire region of Southern California. The company's deposit products include checking, savings, and money market accounts, as well as time deposits; and loan portfolio consists of single-family, multi-family, commercial real estate, construction, mortgage, commercial business, and consumer loans.