Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina (NASDAQ:PEBK) Downgraded to Hold at StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina (NASDAQ:PEBK) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report report published on Thursday.

Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina Price Performance

Shares of Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina stock opened at $31.81 on Thursday. Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina has a one year low of $18.81 and a one year high of $32.34. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $29.66 and its 200 day moving average is $28.65. The stock has a market cap of $168.27 million, a P/E ratio of 10.86 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.81.

Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina (NASDAQ:PEBK) last announced its earnings results on Monday, April 22nd. The bank reported $0.72 EPS for the quarter. Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina had a return on equity of 14.08% and a net margin of 15.80%. The company had revenue of $19.34 million for the quarter.

Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 14th. Investors of record on Monday, June 3rd were issued a $0.19 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 3rd. This represents a $0.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.39%. Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina’s dividend payout ratio is currently 25.94%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina news, Director James S. Abernethy sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.90, for a total value of $29,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 82,206 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,457,959.40. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 16.94% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. AMG National Trust Bank grew its position in shares of Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina by 12.0% during the fourth quarter. AMG National Trust Bank now owns 37,245 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,124,000 after purchasing an additional 3,993 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina by 7.7% in the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 26,824 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $747,000 after acquiring an additional 1,925 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new position in shares of Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina in the 2nd quarter valued at about $388,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 43.83% of the company’s stock.

About Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina

Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina, Inc operates as the bank holding company for Peoples Bank that provides various banking products and services for individuals and small-to medium-sized businesses. It offers checking, savings, money market, and retirement accounts; certificates of deposits; and credit and debit cards.