Insider Selling: Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina (NASDAQ:PEBK) Director Sells 600 Shares of Stock

Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEBK) Director James Abernethy sold 600 shares of Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.20, for a total value of $24,120.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 68,626 shares in the company, valued at $2,758,765.20. This trade represents a 0.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink.

Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PEBK traded up $0.37 during trading on Thursday, reaching $40.27. The company had a trading volume of 17,245 shares, compared to its average volume of 26,081. Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $26.81 and a fifty-two week high of $42.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.85. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $39.45 and its 200 day moving average price is $36.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $219.95 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.09 and a beta of 0.28.

Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina (NASDAQ:PEBK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 20th. The bank reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter. Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina had a return on equity of 13.07% and a net margin of 17.22%.The firm had revenue of $21.57 million during the quarter.

Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 16th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 4th were paid a $0.21 dividend. This is a boost from Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 4th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.1%. Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 23.14%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of PEBK. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its position in Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina by 28.1% in the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 1,600 shares of the bank’s stock worth $49,000 after acquiring an additional 351 shares in the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina by 116.7% during the 3rd quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 932 shares of the bank’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 502 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina by 0.5% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 109,401 shares of the bank’s stock worth $3,157,000 after purchasing an additional 530 shares during the period. Maltese Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Maltese Capital Management LLC now owns 49,958 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,808,000 after purchasing an additional 612 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in shares of Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina by 21.9% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,684 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $113,000 after purchasing an additional 662 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 43.83% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy”.

Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina Company Profile

Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina, Inc is a bank holding company headquartered in Hickory, North Carolina, that operates through its wholly owned subsidiary, Peoples Bank. The company provides a comprehensive suite of banking and financial services tailored to individuals, small businesses, and municipal clients in the western region of North Carolina.

Through its community banking network, Peoples Bancorp offers deposit products such as checking, savings, money market accounts and certificates of deposit, alongside consumer and commercial lending solutions.