Short Interest in Provident Financial Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PROV) Increases By 17.9%

Provident Financial Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PROV) saw a large growth in short interest in the month of August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 26,400 shares, a growth of 17.9% from the August 15th total of 22,400 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 8,200 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.2 days. Currently, 0.5% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PROV has been the topic of several research analyst reports. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Provident Financial in a research report on Sunday. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of Provident Financial from $13.00 to $14.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Provident Financial

A hedge fund recently raised its stake in Provident Financial stock. Empowered Funds LLC grew its holdings in Provident Financial Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PROV) by 7.4% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 22,831 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,575 shares during the quarter. Empowered Funds LLC owned about 0.33% of Provident Financial worth $305,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC. Institutional investors own 71.34% of the company’s stock.

Provident Financial Stock Performance

Shares of PROV stock traded up $0.03 on Tuesday, hitting $14.69. 3,663 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,565. The company’s fifty day moving average is $13.41 and its 200 day moving average is $13.18. Provident Financial has a 1-year low of $10.16 and a 1-year high of $15.40. The company has a market capitalization of $100.77 million, a PE ratio of 14.13 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.23 and a quick ratio of 1.23.

Provident Financial (NASDAQ:PROV) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 29th. The financial services provider reported $0.28 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.23 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $15.38 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.57 million. Provident Financial had a net margin of 12.53% and a return on equity of 5.67%. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.26 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Provident Financial will post 1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Provident Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 5th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 15th were paid a dividend of $0.14 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 15th. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.81%. Provident Financial’s payout ratio is 53.85%.

About Provident Financial

Provident Financial Holdings, Inc operates as the holding company for Provident Savings Bank, F.S.B. that provides community banking services to consumers and small to mid-sized businesses in the Inland Empire region of Southern California. The company's deposit products include checking, savings, and money market accounts, as well as time deposits; and loan portfolio consists of single-family, multi-family, commercial real estate, construction, mortgage, commercial business, and consumer loans.