Versor Investments LP Makes New $889,000 Investment in Peoples Bancorp Inc. $PEBO

Versor Investments LP acquired a new stake in shares of Peoples Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ:PEBO) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 29,600 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $889,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co grew its stake in shares of Peoples Bancorp by 2.5% during the 2nd quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 16,600 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $508,000 after buying an additional 400 shares during the period. Shoker Investment Counsel Inc. grew its stake in shares of Peoples Bancorp by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Shoker Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 29,449 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $883,000 after buying an additional 405 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers grew its stake in shares of Peoples Bancorp by 1.9% during the 2nd quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 22,906 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $700,000 after buying an additional 418 shares during the period. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Peoples Bancorp by 19.8% during the 4th quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,688 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $81,000 after buying an additional 445 shares during the period. Finally, Wedge Capital Management L L P NC grew its stake in shares of Peoples Bancorp by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 29,771 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $894,000 after buying an additional 488 shares during the period. 60.68% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Peoples Bancorp

In other Peoples Bancorp news, Director Dwight Eric Smith bought 1,000 shares of Peoples Bancorp stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 27th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $34.51 per share, for a total transaction of $34,510.00. Following the acquisition, the director owned 9,256 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $319,424.56. The trade was a 12.11% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Michael Ryan Kirkham sold 986 shares of Peoples Bancorp stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.47, for a total transaction of $32,015.42. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 16,289 shares in the company, valued at $528,903.83. The trade was a 5.71% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 3,881 shares of company stock worth $122,872. 3.31% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Peoples Bancorp Stock Performance

NASDAQ:PEBO opened at $33.52 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.74 and a beta of 0.63. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $33.19 and its 200 day simple moving average is $31.75. Peoples Bancorp Inc. has a twelve month low of $27.49 and a twelve month high of $35.46.

Peoples Bancorp (NASDAQ:PEBO) last posted its earnings results 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. The business had revenue of $119.33 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $118.72 million. Peoples Bancorp had a net margin of 17.92% and a return on equity of 9.75%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Peoples Bancorp Inc. will post 3.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Peoples Bancorp Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 18th. Investors of record on Monday, May 4th will be issued a dividend of $0.42 per share. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.0%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 4th. This is a positive change from Peoples Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. Peoples Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 53.85%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently issued reports on PEBO shares. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of Peoples Bancorp from $37.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. DA Davidson boosted their price objective on shares of Peoples Bancorp from $37.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. 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. Finally, Hovde Group boosted their price objective on shares of Peoples Bancorp from $33.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $37.00.

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.