Prudential Financial Inc. Boosts Holdings in Peoples Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ:PEBO)

Prudential Financial Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Peoples Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ:PEBO) by 20.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 31,624 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,400 shares during the period. Prudential Financial Inc.’s holdings in Peoples Bancorp were worth $1,002,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Jane Street Group LLC increased its stake in Peoples Bancorp by 55.8% during the 3rd quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 56,345 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,695,000 after buying an additional 20,173 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC boosted its stake in shares of Peoples Bancorp by 138.9% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 63,096 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,898,000 after acquiring an additional 36,684 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Peoples Bancorp by 2.7% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 850,654 shares of the bank’s stock worth $25,601,000 after purchasing an additional 22,285 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in shares of Peoples Bancorp by 153.6% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 352,488 shares of the bank’s stock worth $10,606,000 after purchasing an additional 213,488 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in Peoples Bancorp in the 4th quarter valued at $394,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.68% of the company’s stock.

Peoples Bancorp Trading Down 1.0 %

Shares of PEBO stock opened at $27.28 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. Peoples Bancorp Inc. has a twelve month low of $26.21 and a twelve month high of $37.07. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $31.20 and its 200-day moving average price is $31.94. The stock has a market cap of $973.08 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.24 and a beta of 0.63.

Peoples Bancorp (NASDAQ:PEBO) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, January 21st. The bank reported $0.76 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 period last year, the business posted $1.04 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Peoples Bancorp Inc. will post 3.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Peoples Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.87%. Peoples Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 48.34%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Peoples Bancorp news, Director Carol A. Schneeberger sold 1,000 shares of Peoples Bancorp stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.20, for a total transaction of $30,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 25,686 shares in the company, valued at $775,717.20. This trade represents a 3.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders sold a total of 3,000 shares of company stock valued at $94,050 over the last quarter. 3.41% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on PEBO shares. Stephens reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and set a $37.50 target price on shares of Peoples Bancorp in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of Peoples Bancorp from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, DA Davidson decreased their target price on shares of Peoples Bancorp from $42.00 to $40.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $38.38.

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.