Peoples Financial Services (NASDAQ:PFIS) Raised to “Hold” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Peoples Financial Services (NASDAQ:PFIS) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research note published on Tuesday morning.

PFIS has been the topic of a number of other reports. Hovde Group reduced their target price on shares of Peoples Financial Services from $48.00 to $43.00 and set a market perform rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, May 6th. Stephens reduced their target price on shares of Peoples Financial Services from $50.00 to $47.00 and set an equal weight rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, May 13th.

Peoples Financial Services Stock Up 3.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ PFIS opened at $43.60 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. Peoples Financial Services has a 12 month low of $36.26 and a 12 month high of $49.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $307.82 million, a PE ratio of 13.37 and a beta of 0.50. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $39.36 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $41.77.

Peoples Financial Services (NASDAQ:PFIS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter. Peoples Financial Services had a net margin of 13.81% and a return on equity of 7.52%. The business had revenue of $22.72 million during the quarter. Equities analysts expect that Peoples Financial Services will post 3.16 earnings per share for the current year.

Peoples Financial Services Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 14th. Investors of record on Friday, May 31st were given a dividend of $0.41 per share. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.76%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 31st. Peoples Financial Services’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 50.31%.

Institutional Trading of Peoples Financial Services

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Quadrature Capital Ltd grew its position in Peoples Financial Services by 46.7% during the 1st quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd now owns 10,707 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $460,000 after purchasing an additional 3,409 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Peoples Financial Services by 2.1% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 322,786 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $13,915,000 after purchasing an additional 6,776 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 1,925 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its holdings 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 last quarter. Finally, Trexquant Investment LP purchased a new stake in shares of Peoples Financial Services during the 4th quarter valued at about $281,000. 31.67% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Peoples Financial Services Company 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.