Renaissance Technologies LLC Sells 1,100 Shares of Peoples Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ:PEBO)

Renaissance Technologies LLC lowered its stake in shares of Peoples Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ:PEBO) by 6.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 16,986 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 1,100 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC’s holdings in Peoples Bancorp were worth $538,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. US Bancorp DE raised its position in Peoples Bancorp by 172.8% during the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 1,094 shares of the bank’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 693 shares in the last quarter. Spire Wealth Management acquired a new stake in Peoples Bancorp in the 4th quarter valued at about $43,000. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS bought a new position in Peoples Bancorp during the fourth quarter worth about $241,000. Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new position in Peoples Bancorp during the fourth quarter worth approximately $243,000. Finally, EntryPoint Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Peoples Bancorp in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $255,000. Institutional investors own 60.68% of the company’s stock.

Peoples Bancorp Stock Up 2.2 %

PEBO opened at $29.84 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $29.16 and a 200-day moving average of $31.60. The company has a market capitalization of $1.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.02 and a beta of 0.63. Peoples Bancorp Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $26.21 and a fifty-two week high of $37.07. 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 posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 22nd. The bank reported $0.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.73 by ($0.04). Peoples Bancorp had a net margin of 18.90% and a return on equity of 11.07%. The business had revenue of $113.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $112.76 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.85 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Peoples Bancorp Inc. will post 3.28 EPS for the current year.

Peoples Bancorp Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 19th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 5th will be issued a $0.41 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 5th. This is a boost from Peoples Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.50%. Peoples Bancorp’s payout ratio is currently 52.06%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on PEBO. Stephens dropped their price target on Peoples Bancorp from $37.50 to $33.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. 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 note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, DA Davidson decreased their price target on shares of Peoples Bancorp from $39.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Carol A. Schneeberger sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.20, for a total transaction of $30,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 25,686 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $775,717.20. This represents a 3.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 3.41% of the company’s stock.

Peoples Bancorp 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.