Sapient Capital LLC Purchases New Position in Peoples Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ:PEBO)

Sapient Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Peoples Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ:PEBO) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 6,682 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $226,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. FMR LLC lifted its position in Peoples Bancorp by 74.1% in the first quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,504 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 640 shares during the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Peoples Bancorp in the fourth quarter valued at $45,000. Quantbot Technologies LP lifted its position in Peoples Bancorp by 60.0% in the first quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 1,600 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $50,000 after acquiring an additional 600 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its position in Peoples Bancorp by 46.9% in the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 2,078 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $53,000 after acquiring an additional 663 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Peoples Bancorp by 29.5% in the second quarter. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. now owns 2,521 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $67,000 after buying an additional 575 shares during the last quarter. 60.68% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Peoples Bancorp Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of Peoples Bancorp stock opened at $27.55 on Tuesday. Peoples Bancorp Inc. has a 52-week low of $23.05 and a 52-week high of $34.85. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $28.26 and its 200-day simple moving average is $29.21. The firm has a market cap of $977.75 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.96 and a beta of 0.76.

Peoples Bancorp (NASDAQ:PEBO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 23rd. The bank reported $1.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.94 by $0.10. Peoples Bancorp had a net margin of 21.52% and a return on equity of 13.47%. The business had revenue of $112.92 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $115.00 million. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Peoples Bancorp Inc. will post 3.39 earnings per share for the current year.

Peoples Bancorp Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 20th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 5th were paid a dividend of $0.39 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 2nd. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.66%. Peoples Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 45.09%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PEBO has been the subject of a number of research reports. StockNews.com raised shares of Peoples Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. Piper Sandler initiated coverage on shares of Peoples Bancorp in a report on Friday, February 23rd. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $34.00 target price for the company. Finally, Hovde Group initiated coverage on shares of Peoples Bancorp in a report on Monday, April 1st. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $31.00 target price for the company.

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.