Peoples Bancorp (NASDAQ:PEBO) Earns “Equal Weight” Rating from Stephens

Stephens reissued their equal weight rating on shares of Peoples Bancorp (NASDAQ:PEBO) in a report released on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a $34.00 price objective on the bank’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. Piper Sandler started coverage on shares of Peoples Bancorp in a report on Friday, February 23rd. They set an overweight rating and a $34.00 target price on the stock. StockNews.com cut shares of Peoples Bancorp from a hold rating to a sell rating in a report on Friday, April 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued a market perform rating and set a $33.00 target price (down previously from $36.00) on shares of Peoples Bancorp in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Hovde Group started coverage on shares of Peoples Bancorp in a report on Monday, April 1st. They set a market perform rating and a $31.00 target price on the stock. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $33.40.

Peoples Bancorp Price Performance

Peoples Bancorp stock opened at $29.76 on Wednesday. Peoples Bancorp has a 12 month low of $23.05 and a 12 month high of $34.85. The company has a current ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $28.33 and its 200 day simple moving average is $29.36. The company has a market cap of $1.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.91 and a beta of 0.76.

Peoples Bancorp (NASDAQ:PEBO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 23rd. The bank reported $1.04 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.94 by $0.10. Peoples Bancorp had a return on equity of 12.93% and a net margin of 20.17%. The business had revenue of $112.92 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $115.00 million. Sell-side analysts forecast that Peoples Bancorp will post 3.35 EPS for the current year.

Peoples Bancorp Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 20th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 6th will be issued a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 3rd. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.38%. This is a boost from Peoples Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. Peoples Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is presently 46.71%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Peoples Bancorp by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,412,411 shares of the bank’s stock worth $81,444,000 after purchasing an additional 51,087 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Peoples Bancorp by 13.3% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,815,196 shares of the bank’s stock worth $61,281,000 after purchasing an additional 213,264 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Peoples Bancorp by 0.7% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,733,426 shares of the bank’s stock worth $43,994,000 after purchasing an additional 12,449 shares during the period. Private Management Group Inc. increased its stake in Peoples Bancorp by 8.7% in the third quarter. Private Management Group Inc. now owns 634,249 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $16,097,000 after acquiring an additional 50,701 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Peoples Bank OH increased its stake in Peoples Bancorp by 0.9% in the third quarter. Peoples Bank OH now owns 609,323 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $15,465,000 after acquiring an additional 5,721 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 60.68% of the company’s stock.

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.