Peoples Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ:PEBO) Short Interest Update

Peoples Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ:PEBO – Get Rating) saw a large drop in short interest during the month of May. As of May 15th, there was short interest totalling 913,300 shares, a drop of 44.6% from the April 30th total of 1,650,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 154,100 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 5.9 days.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Susan D. Rector acquired 2,995 shares of Peoples Bancorp stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 4th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $25.04 per share, with a total value of $74,994.80. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 24,096 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $603,363.84. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other Peoples Bancorp news, Director Susan D. Rector acquired 2,100 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 10th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $28.53 per share, for a total transaction of $59,913.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 21,101 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $602,011.53. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Susan D. Rector acquired 2,995 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 4th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $25.04 per share, for a total transaction of $74,994.80. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 24,096 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $603,363.84. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have acquired 6,195 shares of company stock valued at $162,738. 2.36% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Peoples Bancorp

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Peoples Bancorp by 15.4% during the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 826,138 shares of the bank’s stock worth $21,270,000 after buying an additional 110,171 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in Peoples Bancorp by 4.4% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,288,855 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $64,660,000 after buying an additional 96,174 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in Peoples Bancorp by 105.9% in the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 167,542 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $4,733,000 after buying an additional 86,181 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. raised its position in Peoples Bancorp by 4.1% in the 3rd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 2,061,563 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $59,640,000 after buying an additional 81,594 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Susquehanna International Group LLP purchased a new stake in Peoples Bancorp in the 1st quarter valued at $1,827,000. 49.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have commented on PEBO shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on shares of Peoples Bancorp from $32.00 to $31.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 6th. Janney Montgomery Scott assumed coverage on shares of Peoples Bancorp in a research report on Thursday, April 13th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $28.00 target price for the company. Finally, StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Peoples Bancorp in a research report on Thursday, May 18th. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $31.71.

Peoples Bancorp Stock Performance

Peoples Bancorp stock opened at $26.52 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $25.40 and a 200-day moving average of $27.93. Peoples Bancorp has a 1 year low of $23.05 and a 1 year high of $32.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The company has a market capitalization of $755.55 million, a P/E ratio of 7.15 and a beta of 0.79.

Peoples Bancorp Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 22nd. Investors of record on Monday, May 8th were issued a $0.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 5th. This is a boost from Peoples Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.88%. Peoples Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is presently 42.05%.

About Peoples Bancorp

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Peoples Bancorp, Inc operates as a financial holding company, which engages in banking, investment, insurance, and trust solutions. It offers various demand deposit accounts, savings accounts, money market accounts and certificates of deposit, commercial, consumer, real estate mortgage loans and lines of credit, debit and automated teller machine cards, credit cards for individuals and businesses, merchant credit card transaction processing services, corporate and personal trust services, safe deposit rental facilities, money orders and cashier’s checks, life, health, property and casualty insurance products, brokerage services, and custom-tailored fiduciary, employee benefit plans and asset management & administration services.