Peapack-Gladstone Financial (NASDAQ:PGC) Sees Large Volume Increase – Should You Buy?

Peapack-Gladstone Financial Co. (NASDAQ:PGC) shares saw strong trading volume on Friday . 348,618 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 259% from the previous session’s volume of 97,053 shares.The stock last traded at $35.45 and had previously closed at $35.76.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $32.00 price target (up from $28.00) on shares of Peapack-Gladstone Financial in a report on Monday, July 29th. Piper Sandler upgraded Peapack-Gladstone Financial from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $30.00 to $35.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd.

Peapack-Gladstone Financial Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.97. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $31.06 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $26.69. The company has a market cap of $639.38 million, a PE ratio of 20.09 and a beta of 0.96.

Peapack-Gladstone Financial (NASDAQ:PGC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The financial services provider reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37 by $0.06. Peapack-Gladstone Financial had a return on equity of 5.55% and a net margin of 8.12%. The company had revenue of $102.14 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $58.24 million. Equities analysts predict that Peapack-Gladstone Financial Co. will post 1.82 EPS for the current year.

Peapack-Gladstone Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 22nd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 7th were paid a dividend of $0.05 per share. This represents a $0.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 7th. Peapack-Gladstone Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 11.05%.

Insider Transactions at Peapack-Gladstone Financial

In other news, EVP John P. Babcock sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.29, for a total transaction of $96,870.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 49,155 shares in the company, valued at $1,587,214.95. This represents a 5.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 7.63% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Barclays PLC raised its position in Peapack-Gladstone Financial by 69.9% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 33,656 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $923,000 after acquiring an additional 13,846 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Peapack-Gladstone Financial by 1.1% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 378,780 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $10,385,000 after acquiring an additional 4,172 shares in the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC raised its position in Peapack-Gladstone Financial by 1.6% in the third quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 23,998 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $658,000 after acquiring an additional 387 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in Peapack-Gladstone Financial by 2.5% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 631,645 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $17,313,000 after acquiring an additional 15,667 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp raised its position in Peapack-Gladstone Financial by 2.4% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 524,231 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $14,369,000 after acquiring an additional 12,332 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.75% of the company’s stock.

About Peapack-Gladstone Financial

Peapack-Gladstone Financial Corporation operates as the bank holding company for Peapack-Gladstone Bank that provides private banking and wealth management services in the United States. The company operates in two segments, Banking and Peapack Private. It offers checking and savings accounts, money market and interest-bearing checking accounts, certificates of deposit, and individual retirement accounts.