AlphaQuest LLC Cuts Position in Peoples Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ:PEBO)

AlphaQuest LLC trimmed its position in shares of Peoples Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ:PEBO) by 25.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 20,755 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 6,999 shares during the period. AlphaQuest LLC owned about 0.06% of Peoples Bancorp worth $658,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Peoples Bancorp by 1.4% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,027,413 shares of the bank’s stock worth $30,915,000 after buying an additional 14,426 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Peoples Bancorp by 2.7% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 850,654 shares of the bank’s stock worth $25,601,000 after buying an additional 22,285 shares during the period. Peoples Bank OH increased its stake in shares of Peoples Bancorp by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Peoples Bank OH now owns 590,905 shares of the bank’s stock worth $18,726,000 after buying an additional 6,250 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in shares of Peoples Bancorp by 153.6% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 352,488 shares of the bank’s stock worth $10,606,000 after buying an additional 213,488 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Peoples Bancorp by 1.7% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 295,203 shares of the bank’s stock worth $8,883,000 after buying an additional 5,071 shares during the period. 60.68% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Peoples Bancorp Price Performance

PEBO stock opened at $29.30 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.85 and a beta of 0.75. Peoples Bancorp Inc. has a twelve month low of $26.74 and a twelve month high of $37.07. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $31.87 and a 200-day simple moving average of $32.12. The company has a current ratio of 0.83, a quick 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 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 period in the prior year, the company earned $1.04 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Peoples Bancorp Inc. will post 3.28 EPS for the current year.

Peoples Bancorp Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Investors of record on Monday, February 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend 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 the stock in a transaction on 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 directly owns 26,686 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $876,101.38. This trade represents a 3.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders sold a total of 3,000 shares of company stock valued at $94,050 over the last three months. 3.46% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on PEBO shares. DA Davidson cut their target price on shares of Peoples Bancorp from $42.00 to $40.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Stephens reiterated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $37.50 price target on shares of Peoples Bancorp in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on shares of Peoples Bancorp from $32.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their price target on shares of Peoples Bancorp from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Peoples Bancorp currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $36.90.

Peoples Bancorp Company Profile

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.