Principal Financial Group Inc. Buys 1,339 Shares of Peoples Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ:PEBO)

Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in Peoples Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ:PEBO) by 7.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 18,430 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,339 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.05% of Peoples Bancorp worth $584,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Shoker Investment Counsel Inc. boosted its stake in Peoples Bancorp by 1.2% in the third quarter. Shoker Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 31,151 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $937,000 after acquiring an additional 362 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of Peoples Bancorp by 42.0% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,252 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 370 shares in the last quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. lifted its stake in shares of Peoples Bancorp by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 23,961 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $721,000 after buying an additional 626 shares in the last quarter. Spire Wealth Management purchased a new stake in shares of Peoples Bancorp during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $43,000. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Peoples Bancorp by 6.1% during the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 37,200 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,119,000 after buying an additional 2,150 shares in the last quarter. 60.68% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently commented on PEBO shares. DA Davidson dropped their price target on shares of Peoples Bancorp from $42.00 to $40.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of Peoples Bancorp from $32.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Stephens restated an “equal weight” rating and set a $37.50 price target on shares of Peoples Bancorp in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of Peoples Bancorp from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $36.90.

Insider Transactions at Peoples Bancorp

In other news, Director Carol A. Schneeberger sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.82, for a total value of $34,820.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 28,322 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $986,172.04. This represents a 3.41 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders have sold 3,000 shares of company stock valued at $98,670 in the last quarter. Insiders own 3.46% of the company’s stock.

Peoples Bancorp Stock Performance

Peoples Bancorp stock opened at $30.43 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $32.04 and its 200 day simple moving average is $32.13. The company has a current ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.09 billion, a PE ratio of 9.19 and a beta of 0.75. Peoples Bancorp Inc. has a 1-year low of $26.74 and a 1-year high of $37.07.

Peoples Bancorp (NASDAQ:PEBO) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, January 21st. The bank reported $0.76 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 last year, the firm posted $1.04 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Peoples Bancorp Inc. will post 3.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Peoples Bancorp Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.26%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 3rd. Peoples Bancorp’s payout ratio is 48.34%.

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.