Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Buys 21,273 Shares of Peoples Bancorp Inc. $PEBO

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in Peoples Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ:PEBO) by 0.9% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 2,270,134 shares of the bank’s stock after buying an additional 21,273 shares during the quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned approximately 0.06% of Peoples Bancorp worth $74,619,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. D.A. Davidson & CO. grew its position in shares of Peoples Bancorp by 1.3% in the first quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 24,366 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $801,000 after purchasing an additional 320 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its position in shares of Peoples Bancorp by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 24,348 shares of the bank’s stock worth $731,000 after purchasing an additional 385 shares during the last quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co boosted its stake in Peoples Bancorp by 2.5% during the 2nd quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 16,600 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $508,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the period. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC boosted its stake in Peoples Bancorp by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 35,520 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,067,000 after purchasing an additional 414 shares during the period. Finally, Inspire Investing LLC boosted its stake in Peoples Bancorp by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 15,582 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $468,000 after purchasing an additional 420 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.68% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have commented on the company. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Peoples Bancorp in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Piper Sandler set a $46.00 price objective on Peoples Bancorp in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. DA Davidson raised their price objective on shares of Peoples Bancorp from $41.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 22nd. Hovde Group boosted their target price on shares of Peoples Bancorp from $33.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of Peoples Bancorp from $38.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 22nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Peoples Bancorp currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $42.00.

Insider Activity at Peoples Bancorp

In other news, Director Dwight Eric Smith bought 1,000 shares of Peoples Bancorp stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 23rd. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $39.81 per share, with a total value of $39,810.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 10,256 shares in the company, valued at $408,291.36. This trade represents a 10.80% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 3.31% of the company’s stock.

Peoples Bancorp Stock Up 0.2%

PEBO stock opened at $41.66 on Friday. Peoples Bancorp Inc. has a twelve month low of $27.49 and a twelve month high of $42.29. The company has a market cap of $1.50 billion, a PE ratio of 12.59 and a beta of 0.62. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $37.63 and its 200 day simple moving average is $34.63. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15.

Peoples Bancorp (NASDAQ:PEBO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 21st. The bank reported $0.96 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.85 by $0.11. Peoples Bancorp had a return on equity of 10.79% and a net margin of 19.17%.The firm had revenue of $121.95 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $120.05 million. On average, research analysts anticipate that Peoples Bancorp Inc. will post 3.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Peoples Bancorp Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 17th. Investors of record on Monday, August 3rd will be paid a $0.42 dividend. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.0%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 3rd. Peoples Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is presently 50.76%.

Peoples Bancorp 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.