Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina (NASDAQ:PEBK) Cut to “Hold” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina (NASDAQ:PEBK) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report issued on Thursday morning.

Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ:PEBK opened at $31.95 on Thursday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $29.70 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $28.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.81. Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina has a one year low of $18.81 and a one year high of $32.37. The stock has a market capitalization of $169.05 million, a PE ratio of 10.90 and a beta of 0.58.

Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.19 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 3rd. This represents a $0.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.38%. Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina’s dividend payout ratio is presently 25.94%.

Insider Transactions at Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina

In other news, Director James S. Abernethy sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.90, for a total transaction of $29,900.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 82,206 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,457,959.40. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 16.94% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of PEBK. AMG National Trust Bank grew its stake in Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina by 12.0% in the 4th quarter. AMG National Trust Bank now owns 37,245 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,124,000 after buying an additional 3,993 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC grew its stake in Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina by 7.7% in the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 26,824 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $747,000 after buying an additional 1,925 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new position in Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina in the 2nd quarter valued at about $388,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 43.83% of the company’s stock.

About Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina

Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina, Inc operates as the bank holding company for Peoples Bank that provides various banking products and services for individuals and small-to medium-sized businesses. It offers checking, savings, money market, and retirement accounts; certificates of deposits; and credit and debit cards.