Commonwealth Financial Services LLC Sells 1,515 Shares of Peoples Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ:PEBO)

Commonwealth Financial Services LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Peoples Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ:PEBO) by 6.1% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 23,339 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 1,515 shares during the period. Commonwealth Financial Services LLC’s holdings in Peoples Bancorp were worth $740,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of PEBO. Shoker Investment Counsel Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Peoples Bancorp by 1.2% in the third quarter. Shoker Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 31,151 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $937,000 after purchasing an additional 362 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in Peoples Bancorp by 42.0% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,252 shares of the bank’s stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 370 shares during the period. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Peoples Bancorp by 3.3% during the third quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 12,043 shares of the bank’s stock worth $362,000 after buying an additional 381 shares during the period. D.A. Davidson & CO. lifted its holdings in Peoples Bancorp by 2.7% during the third quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 23,961 shares of the bank’s stock worth $721,000 after buying an additional 626 shares during the period. Finally, Spire Wealth Management purchased a new stake in Peoples Bancorp during the fourth quarter worth $43,000. Institutional investors own 60.68% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on PEBO. Piper Sandler upped their target price on Peoples Bancorp from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Stephens reiterated an “equal weight” rating and set a $37.50 price objective on shares of Peoples Bancorp in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on Peoples Bancorp from $32.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, DA Davidson decreased their price objective on Peoples Bancorp from $42.00 to $40.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $36.90.

Peoples Bancorp Price Performance

Shares of PEBO opened at $32.14 on Tuesday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $32.83 and its two-hundred day moving average is $31.99. The company has a market capitalization of $1.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.71 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.83. Peoples Bancorp Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $26.74 and a fifty-two week high of $37.07.

Peoples Bancorp (NASDAQ:PEBO) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, January 21st. The bank reported $0.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.01. Peoples Bancorp had a net margin of 18.90% and a return on equity of 11.07%. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.04 EPS. Research analysts predict that Peoples Bancorp Inc. will post 3.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Peoples Bancorp Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Investors of record on Monday, February 3rd will be paid a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.98%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 3rd. Peoples Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is presently 48.34%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director David F. Dierker sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.36, for a total transaction of $70,720.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 1,214 shares in the company, valued at $42,927.04. This trade represents a 62.23 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Matthew Edgell sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.36, for a total transaction of $103,080.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 16,092 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $552,921.12. This represents a 15.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 12,000 shares of company stock valued at $411,010 in the last ninety days. 3.46% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.