Dwight Eric Smith Purchases 1,000 Shares of Peoples Bancorp (NASDAQ:PEBO) Stock

Peoples Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ:PEBO) Director Dwight Eric Smith bought 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 27th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $34.51 per share, with a total value of $34,510.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 9,256 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $319,424.56. This represents a 12.11% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website.

Peoples Bancorp Stock Performance

PEBO opened at $34.03 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.91 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a fifty day moving average of $33.05 and a 200 day moving average of $31.47. Peoples Bancorp Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $27.49 and a fifty-two week high of $35.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.83.

Peoples Bancorp (NASDAQ:PEBO) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 21st. The bank reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.80 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $119.33 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $118.72 million. Peoples Bancorp had a net margin of 17.92% and a return on equity of 9.82%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Peoples Bancorp Inc. will post 3.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 paid a dividend of $0.42 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 4th. This is a positive change from Peoples Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.9%. Peoples Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is 53.85%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Peoples Bancorp from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of Peoples Bancorp from $37.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. DA Davidson increased their price objective on shares of Peoples Bancorp from $37.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Finally, Hovde Group increased their price objective on shares of Peoples Bancorp from $33.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $37.00.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Peoples Bancorp

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of PEBO. Larson Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Peoples Bancorp during the third quarter valued at $30,000. Quarry LP bought a new position in Peoples Bancorp during the third quarter valued at $35,000. State of Alaska Department of Revenue bought a new stake in shares of Peoples Bancorp in the 3rd quarter worth about $42,000. Strs Ohio bought a new stake in shares of Peoples Bancorp in the 1st quarter worth about $62,000. Finally, Accredited Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Peoples Bancorp by 524.0% in the 3rd quarter. Accredited Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,184 shares of the bank’s stock worth $65,000 after acquiring an additional 1,834 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 60.68% of the company’s stock.

Peoples Bancorp Company Profile

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.