Cerity Partners LLC Buys 626 Shares of Peoples Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ:PEBO)

Cerity Partners LLC grew its stake in Peoples Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ:PEBO) by 6.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 10,896 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 626 shares during the quarter. Cerity Partners LLC’s holdings in Peoples Bancorp were worth $368,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in PEBO. Brown Advisory Inc. bought a new stake in Peoples Bancorp in the third quarter worth $5,383,000. River Oaks Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Peoples Bancorp by 366.0% during the third quarter. River Oaks Capital LLC now owns 109,500 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,779,000 after purchasing an additional 86,000 shares in the last quarter. Private Management Group Inc. lifted its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 50,701 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Peoples Bancorp by 136.5% during the third quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 78,527 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,993,000 after purchasing an additional 45,328 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Inspire Investing LLC bought a new position in shares of Peoples Bancorp during the third quarter valued at $934,000. 60.68% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on PEBO shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and set a $33.00 price target (down from $36.00) on shares of Peoples Bancorp in a report on Wednesday. StockNews.com raised Peoples Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday. Hovde Group initiated coverage on Peoples Bancorp in a research report on Monday, April 1st. They set a “market perform” rating and a $31.00 price objective for the company. Stephens reiterated an “equal weight” rating and set a $34.00 price objective on shares of Peoples Bancorp in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Piper Sandler assumed coverage on Peoples Bancorp in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. They set an “overweight” rating and a $34.00 price objective for the company. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Peoples Bancorp currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $33.40.

Peoples Bancorp Stock Performance

Shares of PEBO opened at $29.76 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $28.33 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $29.36. The stock has a market cap of $1.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.91 and a beta of 0.76. Peoples Bancorp Inc. has a 52 week low of $23.05 and a 52 week high of $34.85.

Peoples Bancorp (NASDAQ:PEBO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 23rd. The bank reported $1.04 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.94 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $112.92 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $115.00 million. Peoples Bancorp had a return on equity of 12.93% and a net margin of 20.17%. On average, analysts expect that Peoples Bancorp Inc. will post 3.41 EPS for the current year.

Peoples Bancorp Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 20th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 6th will be paid a $0.40 dividend. This is a positive change from Peoples Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 3rd. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.38%. Peoples Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is 46.71%.

Peoples Bancorp Company Profile

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.