Swiss National Bank Grows Holdings in Peoples Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ:PEBO)

Swiss National Bank boosted its position in Peoples Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ:PEBO) by 5.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 69,800 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,500 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank owned about 0.20% of Peoples Bancorp worth $2,212,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in shares of Peoples Bancorp by 153.6% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 352,488 shares of the bank’s stock worth $10,606,000 after buying an additional 213,488 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Peoples Bancorp in the fourth quarter worth $2,122,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in Peoples Bancorp by 316.5% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 61,645 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,855,000 after purchasing an additional 46,845 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC grew its stake in Peoples Bancorp by 138.9% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 63,096 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,898,000 after purchasing an additional 36,684 shares during the period. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Peoples Bancorp by 262.6% during the 3rd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 40,704 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,225,000 after purchasing an additional 29,479 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.68% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on PEBO. Stephens restated an “equal weight” rating and set a $37.50 price target on shares of Peoples Bancorp in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. DA Davidson dropped their target price 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. Piper Sandler raised their price target on shares of Peoples Bancorp from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of Peoples Bancorp from $32.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $36.90.

Insider Activity at Peoples Bancorp

In related news, Director Carol A. Schneeberger sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.83, for a total transaction of $32,830.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 26,686 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $876,101.38. This represents a 3.61 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In the last three months, insiders have sold 3,000 shares of company stock worth $94,050. 3.41% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Peoples Bancorp Price Performance

PEBO opened at $30.24 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $31.56 and a 200-day moving average price of $31.98. Peoples Bancorp Inc. has a twelve month low of $27.10 and a twelve month high of $37.07. 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 capitalization of $1.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.14 and a beta of 0.75.

Peoples Bancorp (NASDAQ:PEBO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 21st. The bank reported $0.76 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.04 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Peoples Bancorp Inc. will post 3.28 EPS for the current 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 given a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.29%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 3rd. Peoples Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.