Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. Has $560,000 Holdings in Peoples Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ:PEBO)

Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Peoples Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ:PEBO) by 20.8% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 18,886 shares of the bank’s stock after buying an additional 3,250 shares during the quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. owned about 0.05% of Peoples Bancorp worth $560,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Barclays PLC raised its holdings in Peoples Bancorp by 138.9% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 63,096 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,898,000 after buying an additional 36,684 shares during the last quarter. Spire Wealth Management purchased a new stake in Peoples Bancorp in the 4th quarter worth about $43,000. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Peoples Bancorp by 5.1% in the fourth quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 143,286 shares of the bank’s stock worth $4,541,000 after acquiring an additional 6,938 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Peoples Bancorp by 7.8% in the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 18,430 shares of the bank’s stock worth $584,000 after buying an additional 1,339 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Peoples Bank OH boosted its holdings in Peoples Bancorp by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Peoples Bank OH now owns 590,905 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $18,726,000 after purchasing an additional 6,250 shares during the period. 60.68% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Peoples Bancorp Stock Performance

Shares of Peoples Bancorp stock opened at $29.56 on Friday. Peoples Bancorp Inc. has a 52 week low of $26.21 and a 52 week high of $37.07. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $28.95 and its two-hundred day moving average is $31.08. The company has a market capitalization of $1.05 billion, a PE ratio of 8.93 and a beta of 0.62. 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 announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The bank reported $0.69 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.73 by ($0.04). Peoples Bancorp had a return on equity of 11.07% and a net margin of 18.90%. The business had revenue of $113.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $112.76 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.85 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Peoples Bancorp Inc. will post 3.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Peoples Bancorp Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 19th. Investors of record on Monday, May 5th were given a dividend of $0.41 per share. This is a positive change from Peoples Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 5th. Peoples Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is currently 52.06%.

Insider Activity at Peoples Bancorp

In related news, Director Carol A. Schneeberger sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.20, for a total transaction of $30,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 25,686 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $775,717.20. This trade represents a 3.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 3.41% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on PEBO shares. Wall Street Zen raised Peoples Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 24th. DA Davidson dropped their price target on Peoples Bancorp from $39.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Stephens cut their price objective on Peoples Bancorp from $37.50 to $33.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Peoples Bancorp presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $36.00.

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.