Insider Selling: Peoples Financial Services (NASDAQ:PFIS) EVP Sells $44,322.30 in Stock

Peoples Financial Services Corp. (NASDAQ:PFIS) EVP James Chiaro sold 605 shares of Peoples Financial Services stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.26, for a total transaction of $44,322.30. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 3,100 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $227,106. The trade was a 16.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link.

Peoples Financial Services Stock Performance

PFIS stock opened at $72.24 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46. Peoples Financial Services Corp. has a twelve month low of $45.95 and a twelve month high of $76.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $723.12 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.96 and a beta of 0.77. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $70.11 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $62.71.

Peoples Financial Services (NASDAQ:PFIS) last released its earnings results on Friday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $1.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.71 by $0.19. Peoples Financial Services had a net margin of 20.51% and a return on equity of 11.76%. The firm had revenue of $52.97 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $53.80 million. As a group, analysts anticipate that Peoples Financial Services Corp. will post 6.37 earnings per share for the current year.

Peoples Financial Services Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 15th. Investors of record on Monday, November 30th will be given a $0.6250 dividend. This represents a $2.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 30th. Peoples Financial Services’s dividend payout ratio is 41.39%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Peoples Financial Services

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Peoples Financial Services in the second quarter valued at about $49,412,000. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC lifted its stake in Peoples Financial Services by 466.7% in the third quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 79,954 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,386,000 after acquiring an additional 65,846 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC purchased a new stake in Peoples Financial Services in the second quarter worth about $3,987,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new position in Peoples Financial Services during the 2nd quarter worth about $3,494,000. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in Peoples Financial Services by 5.9% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 316,621 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $16,886,000 after acquiring an additional 17,655 shares in the last quarter. 31.67% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PFIS has been the subject of several analyst reports. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Peoples Financial Services from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Hovde Group upped their target price on Peoples Financial Services from $61.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th. Finally, Zacks Research raised Peoples Financial Services to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $65.50.

Peoples Financial Services Company Profile

Peoples Financial Services Corp. is the bank holding company for Peoples Security Bank and Trust Company, a community banking institution headquartered in Scranton, Pennsylvania. The bank provides financial services to individuals, businesses, nonprofit organizations and municipal customers.

Its offerings include checking and savings accounts, certificates of deposit, residential and commercial real estate loans, consumer lending, business loans, lines of credit and other treasury-management services.