Rhumbline Advisers Purchases 1,576 Shares of Peoples Financial Services Corp. (NASDAQ:PFIS)

Rhumbline Advisers lifted its holdings in Peoples Financial Services Corp. (NASDAQ:PFIS) by 14.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 12,450 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,576 shares during the period. Rhumbline Advisers owned about 0.18% of Peoples Financial Services worth $567,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in PFIS. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its stake in shares of Peoples Financial Services by 87.7% during the 1st quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 3,400 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $147,000 after acquiring an additional 1,589 shares during the period. Trexquant Investment LP purchased a new position in Peoples Financial Services during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $281,000. Quadrature Capital Ltd bought a new position in shares of Peoples Financial Services in the fourth quarter worth approximately $355,000. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC increased its stake in shares of Peoples Financial Services by 2.6% in the second quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 8,749 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $398,000 after purchasing an additional 220 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC raised its position in shares of Peoples Financial Services by 7.8% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 26,612 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,147,000 after purchasing an additional 1,925 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 31.67% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, StockNews.com downgraded Peoples Financial Services from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th.

Peoples Financial Services Trading Down 1.4 %

Peoples Financial Services stock opened at $46.10 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $460.08 million, a PE ratio of 14.14 and a beta of 0.51. Peoples Financial Services Corp. has a one year low of $36.26 and a one year 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 stock has a 50-day moving average of $46.33 and a two-hundred day moving average of $42.38.

Peoples Financial Services (NASDAQ:PFIS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.52 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $41.92 million during the quarter. Peoples Financial Services had a return on equity of 5.93% and a net margin of 10.07%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Peoples Financial Services Corp. will post 3.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Peoples Financial Services Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 30th were paid a dividend of $0.618 per share. This represents a $2.47 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.36%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 30th. This is a boost from Peoples Financial Services’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. Peoples Financial Services’s payout ratio is 75.77%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Richard S. Lochen, Jr. acquired 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $43.90 per share, with a total value of $43,900.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 15,555 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $682,864.50. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Over the last three months, insiders have acquired 1,604 shares of company stock worth $73,008. 4.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Peoples Financial Services 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.