Peoples Financial Services (NASDAQ:PFIS) & WSFS Financial (NASDAQ:WSFS) Head to Head Comparison

WSFS Financial (NASDAQ:WSFS – Get Rating) and Peoples Financial Services (NASDAQ:PFIS – Get Rating) are both finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, risk, earnings, profitability, valuation, analyst recommendations and institutional ownership.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for WSFS Financial and Peoples Financial Services, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

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WSFS Financial currently has a consensus target price of $51.20, suggesting a potential upside of 57.30%. Peoples Financial Services has a consensus target price of $56.00, suggesting a potential upside of 48.11%. Given WSFS Financial’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts clearly believe WSFS Financial is more favorable than Peoples Financial Services.

Dividends

WSFS Financial pays an annual dividend of $0.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.8%. Peoples Financial Services pays an annual dividend of $1.64 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.3%. WSFS Financial pays out 13.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Peoples Financial Services pays out 32.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. WSFS Financial has raised its dividend for 2 consecutive years and Peoples Financial Services has raised its dividend for 7 consecutive years. Peoples Financial Services is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

88.1% of WSFS Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 30.2% of Peoples Financial Services shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.3% of WSFS Financial shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 3.3% of Peoples Financial Services shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares WSFS Financial and Peoples Financial Services’ revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

WSFS Financial has higher revenue and earnings than Peoples Financial Services. WSFS Financial is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Peoples Financial Services, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Volatility & Risk

WSFS Financial has a beta of 0.96, indicating that its stock price is 4% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Peoples Financial Services has a beta of 0.25, indicating that its stock price is 75% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares WSFS Financial and Peoples Financial Services’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

Summary

WSFS Financial beats Peoples Financial Services on 10 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About WSFS Financial

(Get Rating)

WSFS Financial Corp. is a savings and loan holding company, which engages in the provision of banking and financial services. It operates through the following business segments: WSFS Bank, Cash Connect, and Wealth Management. The WSFS Bank segment provides loans and other financial products to commercial and retail customers. The Cash Connect segment offers ATM vault cash, cash safe, and other cash logistics services. The Wealth Management segment focuses on an array of fiduciary, investment management, credit, and deposit products to clients. The company was founded in 1832 and is headquartered in Wilmington, DE.

About Peoples Financial Services

(Get Rating)

Peoples Financial Services Corp. is a bank holding company, which engages in the provision of financial services through its wholly-owned subsidiary, Peoples Security Bank and Trust Company. Its loan portfolio includes commercial and retail. The company was founded on February 6, 1986 and is headquartered in Scranton, PA.

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