Stephens Reiterates Equal Weight Rating for Peoples Bancorp (NASDAQ:PEBO)

Peoples Bancorp (NASDAQ:PEBO)‘s stock had its “equal weight” rating reiterated by equities research analysts at Stephens in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $34.00 price target on the bank’s stock. Stephens’ price target would indicate a potential upside of 12.58% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other equities analysts have also commented on PEBO. Piper Sandler initiated coverage on shares of Peoples Bancorp in a report on Friday, February 23rd. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $34.00 target price on the stock. StockNews.com lowered shares of Peoples Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, April 19th. Hovde Group initiated coverage on shares of Peoples Bancorp in a report on Monday, April 1st. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $31.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued a “market perform” rating and issued a $33.00 target price (down from $36.00) on shares of Peoples Bancorp in a report on Wednesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $33.40.

Peoples Bancorp Price Performance

Shares of Peoples Bancorp stock opened at $30.20 on Wednesday. Peoples Bancorp has a twelve month low of $23.05 and a twelve month high of $34.85. 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 50-day simple moving average of $28.29 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $29.33. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.04 and a beta of 0.76.

Peoples Bancorp (NASDAQ:PEBO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 23rd. The bank reported $1.04 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.94 by $0.10. Peoples Bancorp had a net margin of 20.17% and a return on equity of 12.93%. The business had revenue of $112.92 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $115.00 million. Analysts forecast that Peoples Bancorp will post 3.39 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Peoples Bancorp

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Sapient Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Peoples Bancorp during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $226,000. Alps Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Peoples Bancorp by 17.8% during the 3rd quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 13,294 shares of the bank’s stock worth $337,000 after acquiring an additional 2,009 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in Peoples Bancorp by 15.0% during the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 273,435 shares of the bank’s stock worth $6,940,000 after acquiring an additional 35,603 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Peoples Bancorp by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,733,426 shares of the bank’s stock worth $43,994,000 after acquiring an additional 12,449 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in Peoples Bancorp by 48.4% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 11,632 shares of the bank’s stock worth $295,000 after acquiring an additional 3,796 shares during the last quarter. 60.68% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.