New York State Common Retirement Fund Buys 6,700 Shares of Peoples Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ:PEBO)

New York State Common Retirement Fund grew its stake in shares of Peoples Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ:PEBO) by 55.3% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 18,815 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,700 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned about 0.05% of Peoples Bancorp worth $558,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of PEBO. D.A. Davidson & CO. grew its holdings in Peoples Bancorp by 1.6% in the first quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 24,400 shares of the bank’s stock worth $724,000 after purchasing an additional 391 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its holdings in Peoples Bancorp by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 19,682 shares of the bank’s stock worth $624,000 after purchasing an additional 703 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in Peoples Bancorp by 3.8% in the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 19,137 shares of the bank’s stock worth $568,000 after purchasing an additional 707 shares during the last quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Peoples Bancorp by 6.7% in the first quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 12,057 shares of the bank’s stock worth $358,000 after purchasing an additional 757 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers grew its holdings in shares of Peoples Bancorp by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 22,488 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $713,000 after buying an additional 782 shares during the last quarter. 60.68% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Peoples Bancorp

In related news, Director Carol A. Schneeberger sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.76, for a total value of $31,760.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 25,330 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $804,480.80. This trade represents a 3.80% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 1,962 shares of company stock valued at $61,110. Company insiders own 3.41% of the company’s stock.

Peoples Bancorp Stock Performance

Shares of PEBO stock opened at $29.39 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $30.28 and its 200-day moving average price is $30.35. 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 Inc. has a one year low of $26.21 and a one year high of $37.07. The firm has a market cap of $1.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.07 and a beta of 0.65.

Peoples Bancorp (NASDAQ:PEBO) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 22nd. The bank reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by ($0.18). The business had revenue of $115.02 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $113.20 million. Peoples Bancorp had a return on equity of 9.52% and a net margin of 16.88%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Peoples Bancorp Inc. will post 3.28 EPS for the current year.

Peoples Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 18th. Investors of record on Monday, August 4th will be given a $0.41 dividend. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.58%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 4th. Peoples Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 56.16%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PEBO has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Peoples Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 24th. Stephens dropped their price objective on shares of Peoples Bancorp from $37.50 to $33.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. DA Davidson dropped their price objective on shares of Peoples Bancorp from $39.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of Peoples Bancorp from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $35.25.

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.