Peoples Financial Services Corp. (NASDAQ:PFIS) Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.62

Peoples Financial Services Corp. (NASDAQ:PFIS) announced a quarterly dividend on Monday, February 3rd,Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be paid a dividend of 0.6175 per share by the financial services provider on Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.47 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.85%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th.

Peoples Financial Services has raised its dividend payment by an average of 11.1% per year over the last three years. Peoples Financial Services has a dividend payout ratio of 36.8% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Peoples Financial Services to earn $5.92 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.47 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 41.7%.

Peoples Financial Services Price Performance

Shares of PFIS stock opened at $50.96 on Tuesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $52.29 and its 200-day moving average is $49.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 0.93. The stock has a market capitalization of $509.09 million, a PE ratio of 49.48 and a beta of 0.56. Peoples Financial Services has a 52 week low of $36.26 and a 52 week high of $59.70.

Peoples Financial Services (NASDAQ:PFIS) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The financial services provider reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.08 by $0.56. The company had revenue of $74.01 million for the quarter. Peoples Financial Services had a return on equity of 7.73% and a net margin of 3.00%. Equities research analysts expect that Peoples Financial Services will post 4.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PFIS has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Hovde Group increased their target price on Peoples Financial Services from $48.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Stephens raised Peoples Financial Services from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Peoples Financial Services from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th.

About Peoples Financial Services

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.