Peoples Financial Services (NASDAQ:PFIS) Raised to “Hold” at StockNews.com

Peoples Financial Services (NASDAQ:PFIS) was upgraded by analysts at StockNews.com from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a note issued to investors on Saturday.

Peoples Financial Services Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PFIS opened at $46.45 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $327.80 million, a PE ratio of 14.25 and a beta of 0.51. Peoples Financial Services has a fifty-two week low of $36.26 and a fifty-two week high of $51.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 0.92. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $46.28 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $42.45.

Peoples Financial Services (NASDAQ:PFIS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.52 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $41.92 million for the quarter. Peoples Financial Services had a return on equity of 5.93% and a net margin of 10.07%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Peoples Financial Services will post 3.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Richard S. Lochen, Jr. purchased 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $43.90 per share, with a total value of $43,900.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 15,555 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $682,864.50. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders acquired a total of 1,604 shares of company stock valued at $73,008 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 4.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Peoples Financial Services

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PFIS. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Peoples Financial Services by 5.0% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 191,934 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $8,740,000 after buying an additional 9,122 shares in the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers grew its stake in Peoples Financial Services by 14.5% in the 2nd quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 12,450 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $567,000 after acquiring an additional 1,576 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC increased its holdings in Peoples Financial Services by 2.6% in the 2nd quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 8,749 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $398,000 after acquiring an additional 220 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in Peoples Financial Services by 19.9% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 47,178 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,148,000 after acquiring an additional 7,831 shares during the period. Finally, Quadrature Capital Ltd lifted its holdings in Peoples Financial Services by 46.7% during the first quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd now owns 10,707 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $460,000 after purchasing an additional 3,409 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 31.67% of the company’s stock.

Peoples Financial Services Company Profile

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.