Peoples Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ:PEBO) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of Peoples Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ:PEBO) have earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the six ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $33.6250.

Several brokerages recently commented on PEBO. Weiss Ratings upgraded Peoples Bancorp from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. DA Davidson set a $35.00 target price on Peoples Bancorp in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st.

Peoples Bancorp Trading Down 1.1%

Shares of PEBO stock opened at $34.31 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $1.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.47 and a beta of 0.64. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $32.86 and a 200-day moving average of $31.08. The company has a current ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. Peoples Bancorp has a 1-year low of $26.40 and a 1-year high of $34.89.

Peoples Bancorp (NASDAQ:PEBO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 20th. The bank reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.88 by $0.05. Peoples Bancorp had a return on equity of 9.51% and a net margin of 17.27%.The company had revenue of $119.57 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $117.97 million. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Peoples Bancorp will post 3.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Peoples Bancorp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 17th. Investors of record on Monday, February 2nd were given a dividend of $0.41 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 2nd. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.8%. Peoples Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is presently 54.85%.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Michael Ryan Kirkham sold 986 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.47, for a total transaction of $32,015.42. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 16,289 shares in the company, valued at $528,903.83. This represents a 5.71% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Carol A. Schneeberger sold 1,895 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.37, for a total value of $59,446.15. Following the sale, the director owned 19,309 shares in the company, valued at approximately $605,723.33. The trade was a 8.94% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 4,881 shares of company stock worth $156,792. 3.31% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Raymond James Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in Peoples Bancorp by 422.4% in the second quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 349,948 shares of the bank’s stock worth $10,687,000 after acquiring an additional 282,960 shares in the last quarter. Align Financial LLC bought a new position in Peoples Bancorp in the fourth quarter worth approximately $5,318,000. UBS Group AG boosted its holdings in Peoples Bancorp by 391.8% in the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 198,742 shares of the bank’s stock worth $5,968,000 after acquiring an additional 158,327 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in Peoples Bancorp by 248.8% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 211,869 shares of the bank’s stock worth $6,362,000 after acquiring an additional 151,125 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC boosted its holdings in Peoples Bancorp by 46.9% in the third quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 400,064 shares of the bank’s stock worth $11,998,000 after acquiring an additional 127,778 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 60.68% of the company’s stock.

About Peoples Bancorp

Peoples Bancorp, Inc is a bank holding company headquartered in Marietta, Ohio. Through its subsidiary Peoples Bank, the company provides a comprehensive range of commercial and consumer banking services designed to serve individuals, businesses and institutional clients. Its deposit products include checking and savings accounts, money market accounts, certificates of deposit and digital banking platforms that enable secure online and mobile access.

On the lending side, Peoples Bancorp offers commercial and industrial loans, commercial real estate financing, construction and agricultural lending, as well as residential mortgage products.