Piper Sandler Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Peoples Bancorp (NASDAQ:PEBO) Stock

Peoples Bancorp (NASDAQ:PEBO) had its price target lifted by Piper Sandler from $39.00 to $40.00 in a research note released on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. Piper Sandler currently has an overweight rating on the bank’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on Peoples Bancorp from $32.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. DA Davidson decreased their target price on Peoples Bancorp from $42.00 to $40.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Stephens restated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $37.50 target price on shares of Peoples Bancorp in a report on Wednesday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $36.90.

Peoples Bancorp Stock Up 2.7 %

Shares of PEBO stock opened at $32.20 on Wednesday. Peoples Bancorp has a 1 year low of $26.74 and a 1 year high of $37.07. The stock has a market cap of $1.14 billion, a PE ratio of 9.17 and a beta of 0.79. The business’s fifty day moving average is $33.25 and its 200-day moving average is $31.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.83.

Peoples Bancorp (NASDAQ:PEBO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 21st. The bank reported $0.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.01. Peoples Bancorp had a return on equity of 11.84% and a net margin of 20.16%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.04 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Peoples Bancorp will post 3.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Peoples Bancorp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.97%. Peoples Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is 45.58%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director S Craig Beam sold 4,000 shares of Peoples Bancorp stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.31, for a total transaction of $137,240.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 23,760 shares in the company, valued at approximately $815,205.60. The trade was a 14.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Matthew Edgell sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.36, for a total value of $103,080.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 16,092 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $552,921.12. This represents a 15.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 12,000 shares of company stock worth $411,010. 3.46% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Peoples Bancorp

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake 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 last quarter. EMC Capital Management lifted its stake in shares of Peoples Bancorp by 787.3% in the 3rd quarter. EMC Capital Management now owns 57,485 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,730,000 after purchasing an additional 51,006 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in Peoples Bancorp by 316.5% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 61,645 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,855,000 after purchasing an additional 46,845 shares in the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. bought a new position in Peoples Bancorp during the third quarter valued at about $1,244,000. Finally, Barclays PLC raised its holdings in Peoples Bancorp by 138.9% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 63,096 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,898,000 after buying an additional 36,684 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 60.68% of the company’s stock.

About Peoples Bancorp

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.