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

Shares of Peoples Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ:PEBO) have received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the six ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $42.00.

A number of brokerages recently commented on PEBO. Piper Sandler set a $46.00 target price on shares of Peoples Bancorp in a research note on Wednesday, July 22nd. DA Davidson raised their target price on shares of Peoples Bancorp from $41.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on Peoples Bancorp from $38.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Peoples Bancorp in a research note on Wednesday, August 26th.

Insider Activity at Peoples Bancorp

In other Peoples Bancorp news, Director Dwight Smith purchased 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 23rd. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $39.81 per share, for a total transaction of $39,810.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 10,256 shares in the company, valued at $408,291.36. This represents a 10.80% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Matthew Edgell sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.27, for a total value of $123,810.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 20,183 shares in the company, valued at $832,952.41. This represents a 12.94% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 3.31% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Peoples Bancorp

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in PEBO. Larson Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Peoples Bancorp in the 3rd quarter valued at about $30,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in Peoples Bancorp during the second quarter worth about $33,000. Quarry LP acquired a new position in Peoples Bancorp during the third quarter worth about $35,000. Allworth Financial LP acquired a new position in Peoples Bancorp during the second quarter worth about $50,000. Finally, Strs Ohio purchased a new position in Peoples Bancorp in the first quarter valued at about $62,000. 60.68% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Peoples Bancorp Stock Performance

Shares of Peoples Bancorp stock opened at $39.82 on Wednesday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $40.00 and a 200-day simple moving average of $36.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.85. Peoples Bancorp has a one year low of $27.49 and a one year high of $42.29. The company has a market cap of $1.43 billion, a PE ratio of 12.03 and a beta of 0.59.

Peoples Bancorp (NASDAQ:PEBO) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 21st. The bank reported $0.96 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.85 by $0.11. Peoples Bancorp had a net margin of 19.17% and a return on equity of 10.71%. The firm had revenue of $121.95 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $120.05 million. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Peoples Bancorp will post 3.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Peoples Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.42 per share. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 3rd. Peoples Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is 50.76%.

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.