Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Increases Stock Holdings in The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. (NYSE:PNC)

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System increased its holdings in The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. (NYSE:PNC) by 1.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 31,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 581 shares during the quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in The PNC Financial Services Group were worth $4,800,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. FMR LLC lifted its stake in The PNC Financial Services Group by 6.7% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 14,326,630 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,758,880,000 after acquiring an additional 893,808 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in The PNC Financial Services Group by 10.4% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,164,321 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $634,024,000 after buying an additional 484,475 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in The PNC Financial Services Group by 2.0% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,702,020 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $577,267,000 after buying an additional 93,636 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley lifted its position in The PNC Financial Services Group by 1.0% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 3,858,980 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $473,767,000 after buying an additional 36,362 shares during the period. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted its position in The PNC Financial Services Group by 2.5% during the third quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 3,327,229 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $408,485,000 after buying an additional 82,406 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.53% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have commented on PNC shares. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on The PNC Financial Services Group from $151.00 to $168.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, April 1st. UBS Group lifted their price target on The PNC Financial Services Group from $160.00 to $163.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 18th. HSBC raised The PNC Financial Services Group from a “reduce” rating to a “hold” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $141.00 to $155.00 in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on The PNC Financial Services Group from $163.50 to $163.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. Finally, StockNews.com lowered The PNC Financial Services Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, The PNC Financial Services Group presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $157.02.

The PNC Financial Services Group Stock Performance

Shares of The PNC Financial Services Group stock traded up $0.21 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $156.43. 1,188,643 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,058,579. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $153.82 and a 200 day moving average price of $145.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $62.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.13, a P/E/G ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 1.16. The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. has a one year low of $109.40 and a one year high of $162.24. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42.

The PNC Financial Services Group (NYSE:PNC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 16th. The financial services provider reported $3.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.09 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $5.15 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.19 billion. The PNC Financial Services Group had a return on equity of 11.64% and a net margin of 16.05%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.98 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. will post 12.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

The PNC Financial Services Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, May 5th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 15th were paid a dividend of $1.55 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, April 12th. This represents a $6.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.96%. The PNC Financial Services Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 52.06%.

Insider Activity at The PNC Financial Services Group

In related news, EVP Michael J. Hannon sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $148.82, for a total transaction of $446,460.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 36,570 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,442,347.40. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.42% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About The PNC Financial Services Group

The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc operates as a diversified financial services company in the United States. It operates through three segments: Retail Banking, Corporate & Institutional Banking, and Asset Management Group segments. The company's Retail Banking segment offers checking, savings, and money market accounts, as well as time deposit; residential mortgages, home equity loans and lines of credit, auto loans, credit cards, education loans, and personal and small business loans and lines of credit; and brokerage, insurance, and investment and cash management services.