Rafferty Asset Management LLC Has $740,000 Stock Holdings in Peoples Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ:PEBO)

Rafferty Asset Management LLC lessened its position in Peoples Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ:PEBO) by 12.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 23,336 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 3,294 shares during the quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Peoples Bancorp were worth $740,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Peoples Bancorp by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,002,366 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $63,455,000 after buying an additional 35,358 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Peoples Bancorp by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 854,238 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $27,077,000 after buying an additional 3,584 shares during the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. raised its position in Peoples Bancorp by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 802,524 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $25,432,000 after buying an additional 5,398 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in Peoples Bancorp by 11.8% in the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 758,215 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $24,028,000 after buying an additional 79,818 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Peoples Bank OH increased its position in shares of Peoples Bancorp by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Peoples Bank OH now owns 590,905 shares of the bank’s stock worth $18,726,000 after purchasing an additional 6,250 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.68% of the company’s stock.

Peoples Bancorp Stock Down 1.2%

NASDAQ:PEBO opened at $29.46 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.90 and a beta of 0.62. Peoples Bancorp Inc. has a twelve month low of $26.21 and a twelve month high of $37.07. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $29.07 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $31.51. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21.

Peoples Bancorp (NASDAQ:PEBO) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The bank reported $0.69 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.73 by ($0.04). Peoples Bancorp had a return on equity of 11.07% and a net margin of 18.90%. The business had revenue of $113.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $112.76 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.85 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Peoples Bancorp Inc. will post 3.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Peoples Bancorp Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 19th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 5th were paid a dividend of $0.41 per share. This is an increase from Peoples Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 5th. Peoples Bancorp’s payout ratio is currently 52.06%.

Insider Transactions at Peoples Bancorp

In other news, Director Carol A. Schneeberger sold 1,000 shares of Peoples Bancorp stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.20, for a total transaction of $30,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 25,686 shares in the company, valued at approximately $775,717.20. The trade was a 3.75% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 3.41% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have weighed in on PEBO shares. DA Davidson lowered their price target on Peoples Bancorp from $39.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stephens lowered their price target on Peoples Bancorp from $37.50 to $33.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd.

Peoples Bancorp Company Profile

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.