Stephens Reaffirms “Equal Weight” Rating for Peoples Bancorp (NASDAQ:PEBO)

Stephens restated their equal weight rating on shares of Peoples Bancorp (NASDAQ:PEBO) in a research report released on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. Stephens currently has a $37.50 target price on the bank’s stock.

Several other research firms have also weighed in on PEBO. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised 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 reduced their price target on shares of Peoples Bancorp from $39.00 to $36.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, DA Davidson lowered their price objective on shares of Peoples Bancorp from $42.00 to $40.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $36.90.

Peoples Bancorp Stock Performance

PEBO opened at $32.68 on Wednesday. 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 has a 52-week low of $26.74 and a 52-week high of $37.07. The firm has a market cap of $1.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.87 and a beta of 0.79. The business’s fifty day moving average is $33.14 and its 200-day moving average is $31.95.

Peoples Bancorp (NASDAQ:PEBO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 21st. The bank reported $0.76 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.01. Peoples Bancorp had a net margin of 18.90% and a return on equity of 11.07%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.04 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Peoples Bancorp will post 3.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Peoples Bancorp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Investors of record on Monday, February 3rd will be issued a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.90%. Peoples Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 48.34%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director S Craig Beam sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.31, for a total value of $137,240.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 23,760 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $815,205.60. This represents a 14.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Carol A. Schneeberger sold 1,000 shares of Peoples Bancorp stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.02, for a total value of $31,020.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 27,686 shares in the company, valued at approximately $858,819.72. This represents a 3.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 12,000 shares of company stock worth $411,010 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 3.46% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PEBO. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in shares of Peoples Bancorp by 153.6% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 352,488 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $10,606,000 after purchasing an additional 213,488 shares during the last quarter. EMC Capital Management boosted its position in Peoples Bancorp by 787.3% during the third quarter. EMC Capital Management now owns 57,485 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,730,000 after acquiring an additional 51,006 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in Peoples Bancorp by 316.5% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 61,645 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,855,000 after acquiring an additional 46,845 shares during the period. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Peoples Bancorp in the 3rd quarter worth about $1,244,000. Finally, Barclays PLC lifted its stake in shares of Peoples Bancorp by 138.9% in the 3rd 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 period. 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.