Fmr LLC Boosts Holdings in Peoples Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ:PEBO)

Fmr LLC increased its holdings in shares of Peoples Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ:PEBO) by 42.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,252 shares of the bank’s stock after buying an additional 370 shares during the period. Fmr LLC’s holdings in Peoples Bancorp were worth $38,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PEBO. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Peoples Bancorp by 26.7% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 586,015 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $17,580,000 after buying an additional 123,423 shares during the period. EMC Capital Management raised its holdings in Peoples Bancorp by 787.3% in 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 in the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. purchased a new position in Peoples Bancorp in the third quarter worth approximately $1,244,000. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Peoples Bancorp by 158.5% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 57,631 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,729,000 after acquiring an additional 35,333 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hantz Financial Services Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Peoples Bancorp in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $981,000. 60.68% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on PEBO shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on Peoples Bancorp from $32.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on Peoples Bancorp from $39.00 to $36.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $34.25.

Insider Activity at Peoples Bancorp

In related news, Director S Craig Beam sold 4,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $815,205.60. This trade represents a 14.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Matthew Edgell sold 3,000 shares of Peoples Bancorp stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.36, for a total transaction of $103,080.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 16,092 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $552,921.12. The trade was a 15.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 11,445 shares of company stock worth $393,806 over the last three months. 3.46% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Peoples Bancorp Stock Up 1.0 %

PEBO opened at $32.46 on Thursday. Peoples Bancorp Inc. has a 52 week low of $26.74 and a 52 week high of $37.07. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $33.60 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $31.58. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The company has a market cap of $1.15 billion, a PE ratio of 9.25 and a beta of 0.77.

Peoples Bancorp (NASDAQ:PEBO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The bank reported $0.89 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.82 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $158.41 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $112.30 million. Peoples Bancorp had a return on equity of 11.84% and a net margin of 20.16%. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.06 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Peoples Bancorp Inc. will post 3.31 EPS for the current year.

Peoples Bancorp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 4th were issued a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 4th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.93%. Peoples Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is currently 45.58%.

About Peoples Bancorp

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.