Peoples Financial Services Corp. (NASDAQ:PFIS) Director Acquires $47,120.00 in Stock

Peoples Financial Services Corp. (NASDAQ:PFIS) Director Richard S. Lochen, Jr. bought 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $47.12 per share, for a total transaction of $47,120.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 17,129 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $807,118.48. The trade was a 6.20 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Peoples Financial Services Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ:PFIS opened at $46.87 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $468.47 million, a P/E ratio of 41.48 and a beta of 0.56. Peoples Financial Services Corp. has a 1 year low of $36.26 and a 1 year high of $59.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.93 and a quick ratio of 0.93. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $50.21 and its 200 day simple moving average is $49.79.

Peoples Financial Services (NASDAQ:PFIS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The financial services provider reported $0.99 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.16 by ($0.17). Peoples Financial Services had a return on equity of 8.97% and a net margin of 3.70%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Peoples Financial Services Corp. will post 5.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Peoples Financial Services Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.6175 per share. This represents a $2.47 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.27%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. Peoples Financial Services’s payout ratio is presently 218.58%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Peoples Financial Services

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its stake in Peoples Financial Services by 58.6% during the third quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 45,345 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,126,000 after purchasing an additional 16,753 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Peoples Financial Services by 14.9% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 211,451 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $9,914,000 after purchasing an additional 27,463 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in Peoples Financial Services by 377.8% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 20,442 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $958,000 after purchasing an additional 16,164 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC lifted its stake in Peoples Financial Services by 304.8% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 12,270 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $576,000 after purchasing an additional 9,239 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its stake in Peoples Financial Services by 45.0% during the third quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 50,884 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,385,000 after purchasing an additional 15,802 shares during the last quarter. 31.67% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on PFIS shares. Hovde Group increased their price target on Peoples Financial Services from $48.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Stephens raised Peoples Financial Services from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th.

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.