Peoples Bancorp (NASDAQ:PEBO) Sets New 12-Month High – Still a Buy?

Peoples Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ:PEBO) shares reached a new 52-week high on Thursday . The company traded as high as $39.68 and last traded at $39.7110, with a volume of 44425 shares. The stock had previously closed at $38.83.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PEBO has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Peoples Bancorp in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of Peoples Bancorp from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, June 26th. Hovde Group boosted 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. Finally, 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 report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Peoples Bancorp currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $39.00.

Peoples Bancorp Trading Up 2.9%

The company’s 50-day moving average is $36.02 and its 200-day moving average is $33.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.84. The firm has a market cap of $1.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.80 and a beta of 0.62.

Peoples Bancorp (NASDAQ:PEBO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 21st. The bank reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.80 by $0.02. Peoples Bancorp had a net margin of 17.92% and a return on equity of 9.75%. The firm had revenue of $119.33 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $118.72 million. On average, research analysts predict that Peoples Bancorp Inc. will post 3.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Peoples Bancorp Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 18th. Investors of record on Monday, May 4th were paid a dividend of $0.42 per share. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.2%. This is a positive change from Peoples Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 4th. Peoples Bancorp’s payout ratio is presently 53.85%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Peoples Bancorp

In other Peoples Bancorp news, Director Dwight Eric Smith acquired 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 27th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $34.51 per share, for a total transaction of $34,510.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 9,256 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $319,424.56. This represents a 12.11% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 3.31% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. UBS Group AG grew its holdings in Peoples Bancorp by 391.8% during the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 198,742 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $5,968,000 after purchasing an additional 158,327 shares during the period. Jackson Creek Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Peoples Bancorp in the fourth quarter worth $1,817,000. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL boosted its position in shares of Peoples Bancorp by 211.5% during the third quarter. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL now owns 83,279 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,498,000 after purchasing an additional 56,548 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Peoples Bancorp by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,080,137 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $62,467,000 after buying an additional 48,166 shares during the period. Finally, Versor Investments LP acquired a new stake in Peoples Bancorp during the 4th quarter worth approximately $889,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.68% of the company’s stock.

Peoples Bancorp Company 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.