Wedge Capital Management L L P NC Grows Position in Peoples Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ:PEBO)

Wedge Capital Management L L P NC grew its position in shares of Peoples Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ:PEBO) by 4.1% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 24,567 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 960 shares during the quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC owned about 0.07% of Peoples Bancorp worth $737,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in Peoples Bancorp during the 1st quarter valued at $1,011,000. Boston Partners purchased a new stake in shares of Peoples Bancorp in the first quarter valued at $710,000. Comerica Bank lifted its holdings in shares of Peoples Bancorp by 31.4% in the 1st quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 26,917 shares of the bank’s stock worth $797,000 after acquiring an additional 6,425 shares during the last quarter. Black Maple Capital Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Peoples Bancorp during the 1st quarter worth about $966,000. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in Peoples Bancorp by 11.9% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 48,252 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,429,000 after purchasing an additional 5,141 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.68% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Peoples Bancorp

In related news, Director David F. Dierker sold 4,000 shares of Peoples Bancorp stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.07, for a total transaction of $128,280.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 13,330 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $427,493.10. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 3.46% of the company’s stock.

Peoples Bancorp Trading Up 1.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ:PEBO traded up $0.45 during trading on Friday, reaching $30.33. 15,514 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 128,997. Peoples Bancorp Inc. has a 12-month low of $24.84 and a 12-month high of $34.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.08 billion, a PE ratio of 8.95 and a beta of 0.76. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $30.42 and its 200-day simple moving average is $29.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.82.

Peoples Bancorp (NASDAQ:PEBO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The bank reported $0.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.85 by ($0.01). Peoples Bancorp had a return on equity of 12.76% and a net margin of 20.58%. The firm had revenue of $154.47 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $111.30 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.83 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Peoples Bancorp Inc. will post 3.32 EPS for the current year.

Peoples Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 19th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 5th will be given a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 5th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.28%. Peoples Bancorp’s payout ratio is presently 47.90%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have issued reports on PEBO shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated a “market perform” rating and set a $33.00 target price (down previously from $36.00) on shares of Peoples Bancorp in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Stephens restated an “equal weight” rating and set a $34.00 price objective on shares of Peoples Bancorp in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Peoples Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, April 27th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $33.00.

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.