Peoples Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ:PEBO) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of Peoples Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ:PEBO) have been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the six brokerages that are covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $33.6250.

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on PEBO. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Peoples Bancorp from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. DA Davidson set a $35.00 price target on shares of Peoples Bancorp in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st.

Peoples Bancorp Stock Up 0.5%

PEBO opened at $32.15 on Wednesday. Peoples Bancorp has a fifty-two week low of $26.21 and a fifty-two week high of $34.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.83. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $32.47 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $30.82. The company has a market capitalization of $1.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.75 and a beta of 0.68.

Peoples Bancorp (NASDAQ:PEBO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 20th. The bank reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.88 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $119.57 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $117.97 million. Peoples Bancorp had a net margin of 17.27% and a return on equity of 9.51%. On average, analysts anticipate that Peoples Bancorp will post 3.28 EPS for the current year.

Peoples Bancorp Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 2nd were issued a $0.41 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 2nd. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.1%. Peoples Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is presently 54.85%.

Insider Activity at Peoples Bancorp

In related news, EVP Michael Ryan Kirkham sold 986 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.47, for a total transaction of $32,015.42. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 16,289 shares in the company, valued at $528,903.83. This trade represents a 5.71% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Carol A. Schneeberger sold 1,895 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.37, for a total value of $59,446.15. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 19,309 shares in the company, valued at approximately $605,723.33. This represents a 8.94% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 5,881 shares of company stock valued at $187,392 in the last 90 days. 3.31% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Peoples Bancorp

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Creative Planning lifted its holdings in Peoples Bancorp by 35.5% during the 2nd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 44,061 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,346,000 after purchasing an additional 11,533 shares during the last quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC grew its stake in Peoples Bancorp by 32.0% during the third quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC now owns 216,843 shares of the bank’s stock worth $6,503,000 after buying an additional 52,608 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in Peoples Bancorp by 8.2% during the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 990,923 shares of the bank’s stock worth $29,718,000 after buying an additional 75,231 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in shares of Peoples Bancorp by 2.6% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 260,719 shares of the bank’s stock worth $7,962,000 after buying an additional 6,654 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LSV Asset Management increased its holdings in shares of Peoples Bancorp by 2.6% during the second quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 151,916 shares of the bank’s stock worth $4,640,000 after buying an additional 3,830 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.68% of the company’s stock.

Peoples Bancorp Company Profile

Peoples Bancorp, Inc is a bank holding company headquartered in Marietta, Ohio. Through its subsidiary Peoples Bank, the company provides a comprehensive range of commercial and consumer banking services designed to serve individuals, businesses and institutional clients. Its deposit products include checking and savings accounts, money market accounts, certificates of deposit and digital banking platforms that enable secure online and mobile access.

On the lending side, Peoples Bancorp offers commercial and industrial loans, commercial real estate financing, construction and agricultural lending, as well as residential mortgage products.