Versor Investments LP Acquires New Position in Peoples Bancorp Inc. $PEBO

Versor Investments LP acquired a new stake in Peoples Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ:PEBO) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 29,600 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $889,000. Versor Investments LP owned 0.08% of Peoples Bancorp as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of PEBO. Larson Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Peoples Bancorp during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Quarry LP acquired a new stake in shares of Peoples Bancorp during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $35,000. State of Alaska Department of Revenue acquired a new stake in shares of Peoples Bancorp during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Strs Ohio acquired a new stake in shares of Peoples Bancorp during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $62,000. Finally, Accredited Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Peoples Bancorp by 524.0% during the 3rd quarter. Accredited Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,184 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $65,000 after acquiring an additional 1,834 shares during the period. 60.68% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PEBO has been the subject of a number of research reports. Hovde Group lifted their price target on shares of Peoples Bancorp from $33.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of Peoples Bancorp from $37.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. DA Davidson raised their price objective on shares of Peoples Bancorp from $37.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised shares of Peoples Bancorp from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $37.00.

Peoples Bancorp Trading Down 0.5%

Shares of PEBO opened at $33.52 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 0.84 and a quick ratio of 0.83. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $33.19 and a 200-day simple moving average of $31.75. Peoples Bancorp Inc. has a 1-year low of $27.49 and a 1-year high of $35.46. The stock has a market cap of $1.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.74 and a beta of 0.63.

Peoples Bancorp (NASDAQ:PEBO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 21st. The bank reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.80 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $119.33 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $118.72 million. Peoples Bancorp had a net margin of 17.92% and a return on equity of 9.75%. Equities analysts forecast that Peoples Bancorp Inc. will post 3.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Peoples Bancorp Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 4th will be paid a $0.42 dividend. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 4th. This is an increase from Peoples Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. Peoples Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is presently 53.85%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Dwight Eric Smith bought 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 27th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $34.51 per share, with a total value of $34,510.00. Following the purchase, the director owned 9,256 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $319,424.56. The trade was a 12.11% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Carol A. Schneeberger sold 1,895 shares of Peoples Bancorp stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.37, for a total transaction of $59,446.15. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 19,309 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $605,723.33. The trade was a 8.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders sold 3,881 shares of company stock valued at $122,872. Company insiders own 3.31% of the company’s stock.

About Peoples Bancorp

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.