Royal Bank of Canada Cuts Provident Financial Services (NYSE:PFS) Price Target to $18.00

Provident Financial Services (NYSE:PFS) had its price objective dropped by equities research analysts at Royal Bank of Canada from $19.00 to $18.00 in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “outperform” rating on the savings and loans company’s stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s target price would suggest a potential upside of 19.24% from the company’s current price.

Other research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. StockNews.com raised Provident Financial Services from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. TheStreet cut Provident Financial Services from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. DA Davidson upgraded Provident Financial Services from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $15.00 to $20.00 in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target on Provident Financial Services from $20.00 to $17.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $18.75.

Provident Financial Services Trading Up 3.1 %

Shares of PFS stock opened at $15.10 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $14.54 and a 200 day simple moving average of $15.29. Provident Financial Services has a fifty-two week low of $13.07 and a fifty-two week high of $19.62. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.43 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a quick ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25.

Provident Financial Services (NYSE:PFS) last announced its earnings results on Friday, April 19th. The savings and loans company reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.40 by $0.03. Provident Financial Services had a return on equity of 7.31% and a net margin of 16.78%. The business had revenue of $114.48 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $114.50 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.54 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 12.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Provident Financial Services will post 1.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Provident Financial Services

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Rise Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Provident Financial Services in the 2nd quarter worth about $29,000. TFO Wealth Partners LLC lifted its stake in Provident Financial Services by 17,508.3% in the 4th quarter. TFO Wealth Partners LLC now owns 2,113 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 2,101 shares in the last quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Provident Financial Services in the 1st quarter worth about $76,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Provident Financial Services by 1,728.7% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 7,333 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $132,000 after acquiring an additional 6,932 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bayesian Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Provident Financial Services during the 1st quarter worth about $149,000. 71.97% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.