Short Interest in Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEBK) Increases By 45.9%

Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEBK) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest during the month of March. As of March 13th, there was short interest totaling 55,373 shares, an increase of 45.9% from the February 26th total of 37,963 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 21,707 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.6 days. Currently, 1.3% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina stock traded down $0.10 during trading on Friday, hitting $38.49. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 16,407 shares, compared to its average volume of 25,989. The stock has a market cap of $210.16 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.63 and a beta of 0.31. Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina has a 52 week low of $23.74 and a 52 week high of $40.74. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $37.88 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $34.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 0.84 and a quick ratio of 0.84.

Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina (NASDAQ:PEBK) last announced its earnings results on Monday, January 26th. The bank reported $1.21 EPS for the quarter. Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina had a return on equity of 13.47% and a net margin of 17.30%.The firm had revenue of $24.99 million for the quarter.

Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 16th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 4th were paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. This is a boost from Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 4th. Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina’s payout ratio is 23.20%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PEBK has been the topic of a number of research reports. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, December 20th. Weiss Ratings raised Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy”.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina news, Director James S. Abernethy sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.34, for a total transaction of $38,340.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 72,526 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,780,646.84. The trade was a 1.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders sold a total of 2,123 shares of company stock worth $81,586 over the last three months. 16.94% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Fourthstone LLC boosted its stake in Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina by 104.4% during the fourth quarter. Fourthstone LLC now owns 154,533 shares of the bank’s stock worth $5,594,000 after acquiring an additional 78,921 shares in the last quarter. HoldCo Asset Management LP acquired a new position in shares of Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina during the second quarter valued at about $729,000. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina during the fourth quarter valued at about $304,000. Jane Street Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina during the second quarter worth about $212,000. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina in the 4th quarter worth about $249,000. 43.83% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina

Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina, Inc is a bank holding company headquartered in Hickory, North Carolina, that operates through its wholly owned subsidiary, Peoples Bank. The company provides a comprehensive suite of banking and financial services tailored to individuals, small businesses, and municipal clients in the western region of North Carolina.

Through its community banking network, Peoples Bancorp offers deposit products such as checking, savings, money market accounts and certificates of deposit, alongside consumer and commercial lending solutions.