Amalgamated Bank Has $570,000 Stock Holdings in Provident Financial Services, Inc. (NYSE:PFS)

Amalgamated Bank raised its stake in Provident Financial Services, Inc. (NYSE:PFS) by 73.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 39,737 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock after acquiring an additional 16,800 shares during the period. Amalgamated Bank’s holdings in Provident Financial Services were worth $570,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp raised its holdings in Provident Financial Services by 1.4% in the 1st quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 66,113 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $963,000 after acquiring an additional 885 shares in the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Provident Financial Services by 7.4% in the 1st quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 14,856 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $216,000 after acquiring an additional 1,020 shares in the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Provident Financial Services by 43.0% in the 2nd quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,050 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $58,000 after acquiring an additional 1,218 shares in the last quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund raised its holdings in Provident Financial Services by 3.9% in the 1st quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 43,930 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $640,000 after acquiring an additional 1,637 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Signaturefd LLC raised its holdings in shares of Provident Financial Services by 991.2% during the 2nd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,855 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 1,685 shares in the last quarter. 71.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Provident Financial Services

In other Provident Financial Services news, EVP Vito Giannola sold 5,499 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.09, for a total value of $99,476.91. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 88,656 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,603,787.04. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 4.29% of the company’s stock.

Provident Financial Services Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of PFS stock opened at $18.33 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.46 and a beta of 1.04. Provident Financial Services, Inc. has a twelve month low of $13.07 and a twelve month high of $19.59. The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $18.21 and its 200 day simple moving average is $15.94.

Provident Financial Services (NYSE:PFS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 25th. The savings and loans company reported ($0.11) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.28 by ($0.39). Provident Financial Services had a return on equity of 4.95% and a net margin of 9.38%. The firm had revenue of $141.51 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $148.60 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.45 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 42.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Provident Financial Services, Inc. will post 1.72 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Provident Financial Services Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 16th were given a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 16th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.24%. Provident Financial Services’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 60.00%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised Provident Financial Services from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $20.00 to $21.00 in a report on Thursday, August 15th. StockNews.com cut Provident Financial Services from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on Provident Financial Services from $18.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. One equities 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, Provident Financial Services currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $20.67.

Provident Financial Services 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.