Empowered Funds LLC Takes $1.64 Million Position in Peoples Bancorp Inc. $PEBO

Empowered Funds LLC purchased a new stake in Peoples Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ:PEBO) in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor purchased 38,000 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $1,637,000.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Corient Private Wealth LP bought a new position in Peoples Bancorp during the 2nd quarter worth $218,000. Bank of America Corp DE bought a new stake in shares of Peoples Bancorp during the 2nd quarter valued at $6,477,000. Odyssean LLC bought a new stake in shares of Peoples Bancorp during the 2nd quarter valued at $1,046,000. Jupiter Topco LLC bought a new stake in shares of Peoples Bancorp during the 2nd quarter valued at $662,000. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC acquired a new stake in shares of Peoples Bancorp during the 2nd quarter worth $287,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.68% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently commented on PEBO shares. Piper Sandler set a $46.00 price target on Peoples Bancorp in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. DA Davidson upped their price objective on shares of Peoples Bancorp from $41.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of Peoples Bancorp from $38.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 22nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Peoples Bancorp in a report on Wednesday, August 26th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $42.00.

Insider Activity

In other Peoples Bancorp news, Director Dwight Smith acquired 1,000 shares of Peoples Bancorp stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 23rd. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $39.81 per share, with a total value of $39,810.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 10,256 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $408,291.36. This represents a 10.80% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Matthew Edgell sold 3,000 shares of Peoples Bancorp stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.27, for a total value of $123,810.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 20,183 shares in the company, valued at approximately $832,952.41. This represents a 12.94% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Company insiders own 3.31% of the company’s stock.

Peoples Bancorp Stock Up 0.4%

Shares of PEBO opened at $39.66 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $39.91 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $36.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.85. Peoples Bancorp Inc. has a one year low of $27.49 and a one year high of $42.29. The company has a market cap of $1.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.98 and a beta of 0.59.

Peoples Bancorp (NASDAQ:PEBO) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 21st. The bank reported $0.96 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.85 by $0.11. Peoples Bancorp had a return on equity of 10.71% and a net margin of 19.17%.The firm had revenue of $121.95 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $120.05 million. Research analysts forecast that Peoples Bancorp Inc. will post 3.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Peoples Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 17th. Investors of record on Monday, August 3rd were given a dividend of $0.42 per share. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.2%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 3rd. Peoples Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is currently 50.76%.

Peoples Bancorp Profile

Peoples Bancorp, Inc is a bank holding company headquartered in Marietta, Ohio. Through its subsidiary Peoples Bank, the company provides a comprehensive range of commercial and consumer banking services designed to serve individuals, businesses and institutional clients. Its deposit products include checking and savings accounts, money market accounts, certificates of deposit and digital banking platforms that enable secure online and mobile access.

On the lending side, Peoples Bancorp offers commercial and industrial loans, commercial real estate financing, construction and agricultural lending, as well as residential mortgage products.