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

Stephens restated their equal weight rating on shares of Peoples Bancorp (NASDAQ:PEBO) in a research report released on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $34.00 target price on the bank’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts also recently weighed in on PEBO. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued a market perform rating and issued a $33.00 price target (down from $36.00) on shares of Peoples Bancorp in a report on Wednesday. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Peoples Bancorp from a hold rating to a sell rating in a report on Friday, April 19th. 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 price objective on the stock. 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 price objective on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $33.40.

Peoples Bancorp Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PEBO opened at $30.04 on Wednesday. The company’s 50-day moving average is $28.25 and its 200 day moving average is $29.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.83. The company has a market capitalization of $1.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.99 and a beta of 0.76. Peoples Bancorp has a fifty-two week low of $23.05 and a fifty-two week high of $34.85.

Peoples Bancorp (NASDAQ:PEBO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 23rd. The bank reported $1.04 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.94 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $112.92 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $115.00 million. Peoples Bancorp had a net margin of 20.17% and a return on equity of 12.93%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Peoples Bancorp will post 3.39 earnings per share for the current year.

Peoples Bancorp Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 20th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 6th will be issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 3rd. This is an increase from Peoples Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.33%. Peoples Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is 46.71%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Peoples Bancorp

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Peoples Bancorp by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,412,411 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $81,444,000 after buying an additional 51,087 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in shares of Peoples Bancorp by 13.3% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,815,196 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $61,281,000 after buying an additional 213,264 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Peoples Bancorp by 0.7% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,733,426 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $43,994,000 after buying an additional 12,449 shares during the period. Private Management Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Peoples Bancorp by 8.7% during the third quarter. Private Management Group Inc. now owns 634,249 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $16,097,000 after buying an additional 50,701 shares during the period. Finally, Peoples Bank OH increased its position in shares of Peoples Bancorp by 0.9% during the third quarter. Peoples Bank OH now owns 609,323 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $15,465,000 after buying an additional 5,721 shares during the period. 60.68% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.