Peoples Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ:PEBO) Stock Now Rated “Moderate Buy” by Sell-Side Analysts

Peoples Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ:PEBO) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the six brokerages that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $40.50.

PEBO has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Zacks Research upgraded Peoples Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 1st. Piper Sandler set a $42.00 target price on Peoples Bancorp in a report on Monday. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Peoples Bancorp in a report on Wednesday, August 26th. DA Davidson cut their target price on Peoples Bancorp from $44.00 to $42.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 1st. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Peoples Bancorp in a report on Monday.

Insider Transactions at Peoples Bancorp

In other news, insider Matthew Edgell sold 3,000 shares of Peoples Bancorp stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.27, for a total transaction of $123,810.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 20,183 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $832,952.41. The trade was a 12.94% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Dwight Smith purchased 1,000 shares of Peoples Bancorp stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the director owned 10,256 shares in the company, valued at approximately $408,291.36. This trade represents a 10.80% increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. 3.31% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Engineers Gate Manager LP lifted its position in Peoples Bancorp by 13.7% in the second quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP now owns 8,504 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $327,000 after buying an additional 1,023 shares during the last quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Peoples Bancorp during the second quarter valued at about $207,000. Allworth Financial LP increased its position in shares of Peoples Bancorp by 87.0% during the second quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,307 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $50,000 after acquiring an additional 608 shares during the last quarter. Waverly Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Peoples Bancorp by 3.5% during the second quarter. Waverly Advisors LLC now owns 14,754 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $567,000 after acquiring an additional 505 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Corient Private Wealth LP purchased a new stake in shares of Peoples Bancorp in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $324,000. 60.68% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Peoples Bancorp Stock Up 0.5%

Shares of NASDAQ PEBO opened at $36.31 on Friday. Peoples Bancorp has a 12-month low of $27.49 and a 12-month high of $42.29. The stock has a market cap of $1.30 billion, a PE ratio of 10.97 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The company has a 50-day moving average of $39.59 and a 200 day moving average of $37.11.

Peoples Bancorp (NASDAQ:PEBO) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 21st. The bank reported $0.96 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.85 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $121.95 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $120.05 million. Peoples Bancorp had a net margin of 19.17% and a return on equity of 10.71%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Peoples Bancorp will post 3.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Peoples Bancorp Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 17th. Investors of record on Monday, August 3rd were given a dividend of $0.42 per share. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.6%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 3rd. Peoples Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 50.76%.

About Peoples Bancorp

Peoples Bancorp Inc is a financial holding company headquartered in Marietta, Ohio. Through its principal subsidiary, Peoples Bank, the company provides banking and financial services to individuals, businesses, nonprofit organizations and government entities.

Peoples Bank offers consumer and commercial deposit accounts, residential and commercial real estate loans, consumer lending, mortgage services, treasury management and other business financing solutions. The company also provides wealth management, trust, investment and insurance services through affiliated or related operations.

Founded in 1902, Peoples Bancorp serves communities primarily in Ohio, West Virginia, Kentucky and Virginia through a network of banking offices and digital banking channels.