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

Peoples Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ:PEBO) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the six ratings firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $37.00.

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Weiss Ratings upgraded Peoples Bancorp from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 27th. DA Davidson lifted their target price on Peoples Bancorp from $37.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Hovde Group lifted their target price on Peoples Bancorp from $33.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their target price on Peoples Bancorp from $37.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 23rd.

Peoples Bancorp Trading Down 1.8%

PEBO opened at $33.70 on Thursday. Peoples Bancorp has a 52 week low of $27.49 and a 52 week high of $35.46. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $33.17 and a 200-day simple moving average of $31.72. The firm has a market cap of $1.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.80 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15.

Peoples Bancorp (NASDAQ:PEBO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 21st. The bank reported $0.82 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.80 by $0.02. Peoples Bancorp had a return on equity of 9.75% and a net margin of 17.92%.The business had revenue of $119.33 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $118.72 million. On average, equities analysts expect that Peoples Bancorp will post 3.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Peoples Bancorp Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 18th. Investors of record on Monday, May 4th will be issued a $0.42 dividend. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.0%. This is a boost from Peoples Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 4th. Peoples Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 53.85%.

Insider Activity at Peoples Bancorp

In related news, EVP Michael Ryan Kirkham sold 986 shares of Peoples Bancorp stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.47, for a total value of $32,015.42. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 16,289 shares in the company, valued at approximately $528,903.83. This trade represents a 5.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Carol A. Schneeberger sold 1,895 shares of Peoples Bancorp stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.37, for a total value of $59,446.15. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 19,309 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $605,723.33. This trade represents a 8.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders sold 3,881 shares of company stock worth $122,872. Company insiders own 3.31% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Peoples Bancorp

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of PEBO. Raymond James Financial Inc. lifted its holdings in Peoples Bancorp by 422.4% during the 2nd quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 349,948 shares of the bank’s stock worth $10,687,000 after buying an additional 282,960 shares during the last quarter. Align Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Peoples Bancorp during the 4th quarter worth about $5,318,000. UBS Group AG lifted its holdings in Peoples Bancorp by 391.8% during the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 198,742 shares of the bank’s stock worth $5,968,000 after buying an additional 158,327 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in Peoples Bancorp by 248.8% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 211,869 shares of the bank’s stock worth $6,362,000 after buying an additional 151,125 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC lifted its holdings in Peoples Bancorp by 46.9% during the 3rd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 400,064 shares of the bank’s stock worth $11,998,000 after buying an additional 127,778 shares during the last quarter. 60.68% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.