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

Peoples Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ:PEBO) has received a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the five analysts that are covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $36.90.

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. DA Davidson lowered their target price on Peoples Bancorp from $42.00 to $40.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on 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 increased 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. Finally, Stephens reissued an “equal weight” rating and issued a $37.50 price target on shares of Peoples Bancorp in a research report on Wednesday.

Peoples Bancorp Stock Performance

Peoples Bancorp stock traded up $0.33 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $31.68. 88,112 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 126,036. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $33.31 and its 200 day simple moving average is $31.92. 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 has a one year low of $26.74 and a one year high of $37.07. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.13 billion, a PE ratio of 9.03 and a beta of 0.79.

Peoples Bancorp (NASDAQ:PEBO) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, January 21st. The bank reported $0.76 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.75 by $0.01. Peoples Bancorp had a net margin of 20.16% and a return on equity of 11.84%. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.04 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Peoples Bancorp will post 3.31 earnings per share for the current year.

Peoples Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Investors of record on Monday, February 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.05%. Peoples Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is presently 45.58%.

Insider Activity at Peoples Bancorp

In other news, Director David F. Dierker sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.36, for a total transaction of $70,720.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 1,214 shares in the company, valued at approximately $42,927.04. The trade was a 62.23 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director S Craig Beam sold 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.31, for a total transaction of $137,240.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 23,760 shares in the company, valued at $815,205.60. The trade was a 14.41 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 12,420 shares of company stock worth $424,076 in the last three months. 3.46% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Peoples Bancorp

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of PEBO. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its position in shares of Peoples Bancorp by 44.4% during the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 12,008 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $381,000 after buying an additional 3,690 shares during the last quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Peoples Bancorp by 29.8% during the 4th quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 15,636 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $496,000 after acquiring an additional 3,593 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Peoples Bancorp by 316.5% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 61,645 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,855,000 after acquiring an additional 46,845 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Peoples Bancorp by 2.7% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 850,654 shares of the bank’s stock worth $25,601,000 after acquiring an additional 22,285 shares during the period. Finally, Barclays PLC raised its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 36,684 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 60.68% of the company’s stock.

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.