M3F Inc. Sells 64,000 Shares of Provident Financial Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PROV)

M3F Inc. lowered its stake in Provident Financial Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PROV - Free Report) by 12.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 436,000 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 64,000 shares during the period. Provident Financial makes up approximately 2.0% of M3F Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 13th largest holding. M3F Inc. owned about 6.52% of Provident Financial worth $6,937,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of PROV. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in Provident Financial by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 486,296 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $7,737,000 after acquiring an additional 1,342 shares during the last quarter. Fourthstone LLC grew its holdings in shares of Provident Financial by 30.5% in the fourth quarter. Fourthstone LLC now owns 90,080 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,433,000 after purchasing an additional 21,030 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC increased its stake in shares of Provident Financial by 5.1% in the fourth quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 26,964 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $429,000 after buying an additional 1,307 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 71.34% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Piper Sandler dropped their price target on shares of Provident Financial from $17.00 to $16.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. StockNews.com began coverage on Provident Financial in a research note on Saturday. They issued a "hold" rating on the stock.

Provident Financial Trading Up 3.2 %

Shares of PROV traded up $0.46 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $14.65. 11,948 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 7,493. The company has a quick ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $98.02 million, a P/E ratio of 16.10 and a beta of 0.19. The business's 50-day moving average price is $14.54 and its 200-day moving average price is $15.29. Provident Financial Holdings, Inc. has a 1 year low of $12.01 and a 1 year high of $16.70.

Provident Financial (NASDAQ:PROV - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 28th. The financial services provider reported $0.13 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.26 by ($0.13). Provident Financial had a return on equity of 4.81% and a net margin of 10.39%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.31 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Provident Financial Holdings, Inc. will post 0.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Provident Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 13th were given a dividend of $0.14 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 13th. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.82%. Provident Financial's payout ratio is 61.54%.

Provident Financial Profile

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.