Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Reaffirms Market Perform Rating for Peoples Bancorp (NASDAQ:PEBO)

Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated their market perform rating on shares of Peoples Bancorp (NASDAQ:PEBO) in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $33.00 price target on the bank’s stock, down from their previous price target of $36.00.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently commented on PEBO. StockNews.com downgraded Peoples Bancorp from a hold rating to a sell rating in a report on Friday, April 19th. Piper Sandler began coverage on Peoples Bancorp in a report on Friday, February 23rd. They issued an overweight rating and a $34.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Hovde Group began coverage on Peoples Bancorp in a report on Monday, April 1st. They issued a market perform rating and a $31.00 price objective for the company. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $33.40.

Peoples Bancorp Trading Down 1.5 %

PEBO stock opened at $29.76 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $1.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.91 and a beta of 0.76. Peoples Bancorp has a twelve month low of $23.05 and a twelve month high of $34.85. 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 fifty day moving average of $28.33 and a 200-day moving average of $29.36.

Peoples Bancorp (NASDAQ:PEBO) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, January 23rd. The bank reported $1.04 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.94 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $112.92 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $115.00 million. Peoples Bancorp had a return on equity of 12.93% and a net margin of 20.17%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Peoples Bancorp will post 3.35 EPS for the current year.

Peoples Bancorp Increases Dividend

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Peoples Bancorp

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. AJOVista LLC bought a new stake in shares of Peoples Bancorp in the fourth quarter worth about $36,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its holdings in shares of Peoples Bancorp by 46.9% in the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 2,078 shares of the bank’s stock worth $53,000 after acquiring an additional 663 shares in the last quarter. Future Financial Wealth Managment LLC bought a new stake in shares of Peoples Bancorp in the first quarter worth about $118,000. Bfsg LLC bought a new stake in shares of Peoples Bancorp in the fourth quarter worth about $174,000. Finally, EMC Capital Management increased its holdings in shares of Peoples Bancorp by 214.9% in the third quarter. EMC Capital Management now owns 7,292 shares of the bank’s stock worth $185,000 after acquiring an additional 4,976 shares in the last quarter. 60.68% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Peoples Bancorp

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.