Empowered Funds LLC Buys New Shares in Peapack-Gladstone Financial Corporation $PGC

Empowered Funds LLC bought a new stake in shares of Peapack-Gladstone Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:PGC) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 81,146 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $3,841,000.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in Peapack-Gladstone Financial in the second quarter worth $75,599,000. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in shares of Peapack-Gladstone Financial by 67.0% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,138,723 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $31,429,000 after buying an additional 456,828 shares during the last quarter. Basswood Capital Management L.L.C. purchased a new position in shares of Peapack-Gladstone Financial in the second quarter worth about $13,778,000. Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new position in shares of Peapack-Gladstone Financial in the second quarter worth about $5,411,000. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Peapack-Gladstone Financial by 255.0% in the fourth quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 108,782 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,030,000 after buying an additional 78,135 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.75% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Anthony W. Spinelli sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.63, for a total transaction of $89,260.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 11,742 shares in the company, valued at $524,045.46. This represents a 14.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP John P. Babcock sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.11, for a total value of $235,550.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 45,582 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,147,368.02. The trade was a 9.88% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 8,100 shares of company stock valued at $377,170. Company insiders own 5.75% of the company’s stock.

Peapack-Gladstone Financial Price Performance

NASDAQ PGC opened at $44.59 on Wednesday. Peapack-Gladstone Financial Corporation has a 1 year low of $24.71 and a 1 year high of $49.14. The stock has a market capitalization of $790.58 million, a PE ratio of 15.48 and a beta of 0.71. The business’s 50-day moving average is $46.23 and its 200 day moving average is $41.51.

Peapack-Gladstone Financial (NASDAQ:PGC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 27th. The financial services provider reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.88 by ($0.03). Peapack-Gladstone Financial had a net margin of 11.09% and a return on equity of 7.82%. The business had revenue of $86.05 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $85.17 million. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Peapack-Gladstone Financial Corporation will post 3.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Peapack-Gladstone Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 13th were paid a dividend of $0.05 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 13th. This represents a $0.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Peapack-Gladstone Financial’s payout ratio is 6.94%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently weighed in on PGC. Raymond James Financial increased their target price on Peapack-Gladstone Financial from $49.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. Zacks Research cut Peapack-Gladstone Financial from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated a “moderate buy” rating and issued a $56.00 price objective (up from $55.00) on shares of Peapack-Gladstone Financial in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Peapack-Gladstone Financial in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Peapack-Gladstone Financial from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, July 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Peapack-Gladstone Financial currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $56.33.

About Peapack-Gladstone Financial

Peapack-Gladstone Financial Corporation is the parent company of Peapack-Gladstone Bank, a New Jersey-chartered commercial bank headquartered in Bedminster, New Jersey, that trades on the NASDAQ under the symbol PGC. Through Peapack-Gladstone Bank, the company offers a broad range of deposit and lending solutions, including checking and savings accounts, residential and commercial real estate loans, lines of credit and treasury management services. Clients benefit from both in-branch relationship banking and an expanding suite of digital banking tools designed to support personal and business financial needs.

Complementing its core banking operations, Peapack-Gladstone Financial provides wealth management, trust and financial planning services through its subsidiary, Peapack-Gladstone Wealth Management.