Peoples Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ:PEBO) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Peoples Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ:PEBO) has received a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the six analysts that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12 month price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $37.00.

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Hovde Group upped their price objective on Peoples Bancorp from $33.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Peoples Bancorp in a research note on Friday, May 29th. DA Davidson upped their target price on shares of Peoples Bancorp from $37.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Finally, Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Peoples Bancorp in a research note on Wednesday, June 10th.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Dwight Eric Smith acquired 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 27th. The shares were bought at an average price of $34.51 per share, with a total value of $34,510.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 9,256 shares in the company, valued at $319,424.56. This trade represents a 12.11% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 3.31% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Peoples Bancorp

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of PEBO. Royal Bank of Canada grew its holdings in shares of Peoples Bancorp by 4.9% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 23,996 shares of the bank’s stock worth $711,000 after buying an additional 1,111 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Peoples Bancorp by 46.5% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 101,653 shares of the bank’s stock worth $3,015,000 after buying an additional 32,259 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Peoples Bancorp by 4.4% during the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 20,544 shares of the bank’s stock worth $609,000 after buying an additional 862 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC grew its holdings in shares of Peoples Bancorp by 6.7% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 82,290 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,441,000 after buying an additional 5,175 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jane Street Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Peoples Bancorp by 87.2% during the first quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 64,668 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,918,000 after buying an additional 30,121 shares during the last quarter. 60.68% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Peoples Bancorp Stock Up 0.3%

Shares of PEBO opened at $37.84 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $1.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.13 and a beta of 0.62. Peoples Bancorp has a 12-month low of $27.49 and a 12-month high of $37.97. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $34.86 and its 200 day moving average price is $33.09. The company has a current ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15.

Peoples Bancorp (NASDAQ:PEBO) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 21st. The bank reported $0.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.80 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $119.33 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $118.72 million. Peoples Bancorp had a return on equity of 9.75% and a net margin of 17.92%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Peoples Bancorp will post 3.4 earnings per share for the current year.

Peoples Bancorp Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 4th were paid a $0.42 dividend. This is an increase from Peoples Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.4%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 4th. Peoples Bancorp’s payout ratio is currently 53.85%.

About Peoples Bancorp

Peoples Bancorp, Inc is a bank holding company headquartered in Marietta, Ohio. Through its subsidiary Peoples Bank, the company provides a comprehensive range of commercial and consumer banking services designed to serve individuals, businesses and institutional clients. Its deposit products include checking and savings accounts, money market accounts, certificates of deposit and digital banking platforms that enable secure online and mobile access.

On the lending side, Peoples Bancorp offers commercial and industrial loans, commercial real estate financing, construction and agricultural lending, as well as residential mortgage products.