First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. Makes New Investment in Provident Financial Services, Inc $PFS

First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. bought a new position in shares of Provident Financial Services, Inc (NYSE:PFS) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 22,217 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock, valued at approximately $389,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Leigh Baldwin & CO. LLC grew its holdings in shares of Provident Financial Services by 1.3% during the 1st quarter. Leigh Baldwin & CO. LLC now owns 49,643 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $852,000 after acquiring an additional 645 shares during the period. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its holdings in shares of Provident Financial Services by 30.0% during the 1st quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 2,893 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $50,000 after acquiring an additional 667 shares during the period. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund grew its holdings in shares of Provident Financial Services by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 72,088 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $1,238,000 after acquiring an additional 699 shares during the period. Sit Investment Associates Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Provident Financial Services by 1.8% during the 1st quarter. Sit Investment Associates Inc. now owns 50,025 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $859,000 after acquiring an additional 900 shares during the period. Finally, Oliver Luxxe Assets LLC grew its holdings in shares of Provident Financial Services by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter. Oliver Luxxe Assets LLC now owns 90,783 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $1,591,000 after acquiring an additional 1,127 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.97% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently weighed in on PFS shares. Zacks Research downgraded Provident Financial Services from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, September 29th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Provident Financial Services in a research note on Saturday. Hovde Group upped their price target on Provident Financial Services from $22.50 to $23.50 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Finally, DA Davidson downgraded Provident Financial Services from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, October 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $22.70.

Provident Financial Services Stock Performance

Shares of PFS opened at $18.99 on Monday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $19.43 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $18.06. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04. Provident Financial Services, Inc has a 12 month low of $14.34 and a 12 month high of $22.24. The company has a market cap of $2.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.73 and a beta of 0.91.

Provident Financial Services (NYSE:PFS) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 17th. The savings and loans company reported $0.68 EPS for the quarter. Provident Financial Services had a return on equity of 8.80% and a net margin of 16.97%.The business had revenue of $114.54 million for the quarter. Research analysts anticipate that Provident Financial Services, Inc will post 2.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Provident Financial Services

In other news, Director John Pugliese sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.91, for a total transaction of $497,750.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 87,907 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,750,228.37. This represents a 22.14% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP James A. Christy sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.90, for a total value of $59,700.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 39,633 shares in the company, valued at $788,696.70. The trade was a 7.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 3.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Provident Financial Services Company 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.