Alliancebernstein L.P. Has $15.97 Million Stock Position in Peoples Bancorp Inc. $PEBO

Alliancebernstein L.P. lowered its stake in shares of Peoples Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ:PEBO) by 6.0% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 538,471 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 34,315 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. owned approximately 1.51% of Peoples Bancorp worth $15,971,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in PEBO. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in shares of Peoples Bancorp by 6.6% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 338,569 shares of the bank’s stock worth $10,729,000 after acquiring an additional 21,101 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its position in Peoples Bancorp by 4.1% in the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 34,622 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,097,000 after purchasing an additional 1,367 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE grew its position in Peoples Bancorp by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 79,039 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,505,000 after purchasing an additional 1,956 shares in the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. bought a new stake in Peoples Bancorp in the 4th quarter worth about $215,000. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers grew its position in Peoples Bancorp by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 22,488 shares of the bank’s stock worth $713,000 after purchasing an additional 782 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.68% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Peoples Bancorp

In other Peoples Bancorp news, Director Dwight Eric Smith acquired 1,060 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 24th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $30.27 per share, with a total value of $32,086.20. Following the acquisition, the director owned 6,999 shares in the company, valued at approximately $211,859.73. This represents a 17.85% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Carol A. Schneeberger sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.83, for a total transaction of $30,830.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 24,330 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $750,093.90. This trade represents a 3.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 3.41% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Peoples Bancorp Stock Up 0.7%

Peoples Bancorp stock opened at $30.63 on Friday. Peoples Bancorp Inc. has a twelve month low of $26.21 and a twelve month high of $37.07. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $30.28 and a 200-day moving average price of $29.79. The company has a market capitalization of $1.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.49 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20.

Peoples Bancorp (NASDAQ:PEBO) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 22nd. The bank reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by ($0.18). Peoples Bancorp had a net margin of 16.88% and a return on equity of 9.46%. The company had revenue of $115.02 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $113.20 million. As a group, equities analysts predict that Peoples Bancorp Inc. will post 3.28 EPS for the current year.

Peoples Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 18th. Investors of record on Monday, August 4th were issued a $0.41 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 4th. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.4%. Peoples Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 56.16%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of Peoples Bancorp from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Peoples Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 2nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $35.25.

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.