Peoples Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ:PEBO) Shares Sold by AlphaQuest LLC

AlphaQuest LLC lowered its holdings in Peoples Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ:PEBO) by 25.2% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 20,755 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 6,999 shares during the quarter. AlphaQuest LLC’s holdings in Peoples Bancorp were worth $658,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Shoker Investment Counsel Inc. lifted its holdings in Peoples Bancorp by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Shoker Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 31,467 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $997,000 after acquiring an additional 316 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in Peoples Bancorp by 42.0% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,252 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 370 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System lifted its holdings in Peoples Bancorp by 6.1% in the fourth quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 10,304 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $327,000 after acquiring an additional 595 shares during the period. D.A. Davidson & CO. lifted its holdings in Peoples Bancorp by 2.7% in the third quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 23,961 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $721,000 after acquiring an additional 626 shares during the period. Finally, US Bancorp DE lifted its holdings in Peoples Bancorp by 172.8% in the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 1,094 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 693 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.68% of the company’s stock.

Peoples Bancorp Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of PEBO stock opened at $29.30 on Wednesday. Peoples Bancorp Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $26.74 and a fifty-two week high of $37.07. The stock has a market cap of $1.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.85 and a beta of 0.75. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $31.87 and a 200-day simple moving average of $32.12. 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 posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 21st. The bank reported $0.76 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.75 by $0.01. Peoples Bancorp had a return on equity of 11.07% and a net margin of 18.90%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.04 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Peoples Bancorp Inc. will post 3.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Peoples Bancorp Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Investors of record on Monday, February 3rd were given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 3rd. Peoples Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is presently 48.34%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Carol A. Schneeberger sold 1,000 shares of Peoples Bancorp stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.83, for a total transaction of $32,830.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 26,686 shares in the company, valued at approximately $876,101.38. This trade represents a 3.61 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In the last quarter, insiders sold 3,000 shares of company stock worth $94,050. 3.46% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have commented on PEBO. DA Davidson reduced their target price on Peoples Bancorp from $42.00 to $40.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Stephens restated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $37.50 price target on shares of Peoples Bancorp in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Piper Sandler raised their price target on Peoples Bancorp from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on Peoples Bancorp from $32.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Peoples Bancorp has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $36.90.

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.