Item 5. Market for Registrant’s Common Equity
Item 5. Market For Registrant’s Common Equity and Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities.
The Company’s common stock trades on the New York Stock Exchange (“NYSE”) under the symbol “PFS.” Trading in the Company’s common stock commenced on January 16, 2003.
As of February 3, 2025, there were 137,565,966 shares of the Company’s common stock issued and 130,489,493 shares outstanding, and approximately 6,178 stockholders of record.
On January 28, 2025, the board of directors declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.24 per common share which was paid on February 28, 2025, to stockholders of record as of the close of business on February 14, 2025. The Company’s board of directors intends to review the payment of dividends quarterly and plans to continue to maintain a regular quarterly cash dividend in the future, subject to financial condition, results of operations, tax considerations, industry standards, economic conditions, regulatory restrictions, including those that affect the payment of dividends by the Bank to the Company; and other relevant factors.
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Stock Performance Graph
Set forth below is a stock performance graph comparing (a) the cumulative total return on the Company’s common stock for the period December 31, 2019 through December 31, 2024, (b) the cumulative total return on stocks included in the Russell 2000 Index over such period, and (c) the cumulative total return of the S&P U.S. SmallCap Banks Index over such period. This Index, produced by S&P Global, contains all thrift institutions traded on the NYSE and NASDAQ stock exchange. Cumulative return assumes the reinvestment of dividends and is expressed in dollars based on an assumed investment of $100 on December 31, 2019.
Period Ending
Index 12/31/2019 12/31/2020 12/31/2021 12/31/2022 12/31/2023 12/31/2024
Provident Financial Services, Inc. 100.00 77.47 108.82 100.08 89.28 98.86
Russell 2000 Index 100.00 119.96 137.74 109.59 128.14 142.93
S&P U.S. SmallCap Banks Index 100.00 90.82 126.43 111.47 112.03 132.44
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The following table reports information regarding purchases of the Company’s common stock during the fourth quarter of 2024 under the stock repurchase plan approved by the Company’s board of directors:
ISSUER PURCHASES OF EQUITY SECURITIES
The Company repurchased 748 shares of its common stock at a cost of $14,000 during the fourth quarter of 2024 under the stock repurchase program approved by the Company’s board of directors. The Company repurchased 89,569 shares of its common stock at a cost of $1.3 million in 2024. As of December 31, 2024, 3.1 million shares were eligible for repurchase under the board approved stock repurchase program.
Period Total Number
of Shares
Purchased
Average
Price Paid per
Share
Total Number of
Shares
Purchased as Part of
Publicly Announced Programs (1) (2)
Maximum Number of Shares that May Yet Be Purchased Under the Programs (1) (2)
October 1, 2024 through October 31, 2024 644 $ 17.83 644 3,072,955
November 1, 2024 through November 30, 2024 104 21.40 104 3,072,851
December 1, 2024 through December 31, 2024 — — — 3,072,851
Total 748 $ 18.33 748
(1) On December 28, 2020, the Company’s board of directors approved the purchase of up to 3,900,000 shares of its common stock under a ninth general repurchase program to commence upon completion of the eighth repurchase program. The repurchase program has no expiration date.
(2) On April 25, 2024, shares available for stock awards and stock options under the Amended and Restated Long-Term Incentive Plan were reserved for issuance under the new 2024 Equity Plan. The new plan authorized the issuance of up to 2,100,000 shares of Company common stock to be issued as stock awards.
Item 6. [Reserved]