Peoples Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ:PEBO) Increases Dividend to $0.40 Per Share

Peoples Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ:PEBO) declared a quarterly dividend on Monday, April 22nd, Zacks reports. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 6th will be given a dividend of 0.40 per share by the bank on Monday, May 20th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 3rd. This is a boost from Peoples Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39.

Peoples Bancorp has increased its dividend by an average of 4.2% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 8 years. Peoples Bancorp has a dividend payout ratio of 45.0% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Peoples Bancorp to earn $3.54 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.56 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 44.1%.

Peoples Bancorp Trading Up 0.2 %

NASDAQ:PEBO traded up $0.06 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $29.26. 24,341 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 123,986. The company’s 50 day moving average is $28.25 and its two-hundred day moving average is $29.32. Peoples Bancorp has a twelve month low of $23.05 and a twelve month high of $34.85. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The company has a market capitalization of $1.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.46 and a beta of 0.76.

Peoples Bancorp (NASDAQ:PEBO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 23rd. The bank reported $1.04 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.94 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $112.92 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $115.00 million. Peoples Bancorp had a return on equity of 13.47% and a net margin of 21.52%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Peoples Bancorp will post 3.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on PEBO. Piper Sandler began coverage on Peoples Bancorp in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $34.00 price target on the stock. StockNews.com lowered Peoples Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, April 19th. Hovde Group assumed coverage on Peoples Bancorp in a report on Monday, April 1st. They set a “market perform” rating and a $31.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated a “market perform” rating and set a $33.00 target price (down from $36.00) on shares of Peoples Bancorp in a report on Wednesday.

Peoples Bancorp Company Profile

Peoples Bancorp Inc operates as the holding company for Peoples Bank that provides commercial and consumer banking products and services. The company accepts various deposit products, including demand deposit accounts, savings accounts, money market accounts, certificates of deposit, and governmental deposits; and provides commercial and industrial, commercial real estate, construction, finance, residential real estate, and consumer indirect and direct loans, as well as home equity lines of credit and overdrafts.