Peoples Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ:PEBO) Given Average Recommendation of “Hold” by Brokerages

Shares of Peoples Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ:PEBO) have been given an average recommendation of “Hold” by the five research firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $36.90.

Several equities analysts have commented on PEBO shares. DA Davidson dropped their price target on shares of Peoples Bancorp from $42.00 to $40.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on shares of Peoples Bancorp from $32.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of Peoples Bancorp from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, Stephens restated an “equal weight” rating and set a $37.50 target price on shares of Peoples Bancorp in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd.

Insider Activity at Peoples Bancorp

In related news, Director David F. Dierker sold 2,000 shares of Peoples Bancorp stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.36, for a total value of $70,720.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 1,214 shares in the company, valued at $42,927.04. This trade represents a 62.23 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Carol A. Schneeberger sold 1,000 shares of Peoples Bancorp stock in a transaction on Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.82, for a total transaction of $34,820.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 28,322 shares in the company, valued at approximately $986,172.04. This trade represents a 3.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 5,000 shares of company stock worth $169,390 in the last three months. Insiders own 3.46% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Peoples Bancorp

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of PEBO. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in Peoples Bancorp by 153.6% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 352,488 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $10,606,000 after acquiring an additional 213,488 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its holdings in Peoples Bancorp by 11.8% in the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 758,215 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $24,028,000 after acquiring an additional 79,818 shares during the period. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Peoples Bancorp in the fourth quarter valued at $2,464,000. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL acquired a new stake in Peoples Bancorp in the fourth quarter valued at $2,414,000. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Peoples Bancorp in the fourth quarter valued at $2,122,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.68% of the company’s stock.

Peoples Bancorp Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ:PEBO opened at $32.66 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $32.45 and its 200 day moving average price is $31.97. The stock has a market cap of $1.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.87 and a beta of 0.78. Peoples Bancorp has a fifty-two week low of $26.74 and a fifty-two week high of $37.07. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21.

Peoples Bancorp (NASDAQ:PEBO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 21st. The bank reported $0.76 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.01. Peoples Bancorp had a net margin of 18.90% and a return on equity of 11.07%. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.04 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Peoples Bancorp will post 3.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Peoples Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Investors of record on Monday, February 3rd will be given a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.90%. Peoples Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 48.34%.

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.