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

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

Separately, Piper Sandler cut their target price on Provident Financial from $15.00 to $14.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st.

Provident Financial Price Performance

PROV opened at $12.33 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $12.57 and its 200 day moving average price is $13.30. Provident Financial has a fifty-two week low of $10.16 and a fifty-two week high of $15.40. The firm has a market cap of $84.83 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.86 and a beta of 0.39.

Provident Financial (NASDAQ:PROV) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 29th. The financial services provider reported $0.22 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.24 by ($0.02). Provident Financial had a return on equity of 5.56% and a net margin of 12.57%. The company had revenue of $9.41 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.72 million. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Provident Financial will post 0.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Provident Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 16th were paid a $0.14 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.54%. Provident Financial’s payout ratio is currently 53.85%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Provident Financial

An institutional investor recently raised its position in Provident Financial stock. Empowered Funds LLC grew its holdings in shares of Provident Financial Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PROV) by 7.4% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 22,831 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,575 shares during the quarter. Empowered Funds LLC owned about 0.33% of Provident Financial worth $305,000 as of its most recent SEC filing. Hedge funds and other 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.