Wells Fargo & Company MN Boosts Stake in Peoples Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ:PEBO)

Wells Fargo & Company MN boosted its stake in shares of Peoples Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ:PEBO) by 14.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 35,094 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,396 shares during the period. Wells Fargo & Company MN’s holdings in Peoples Bancorp were worth $1,112,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of PEBO. Shoker Investment Counsel Inc. raised its stake in shares of Peoples Bancorp by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Shoker Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 31,467 shares of the bank’s stock worth $997,000 after buying an additional 316 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System raised its stake in Peoples Bancorp by 6.1% during the 4th quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 10,304 shares of the bank’s stock worth $327,000 after acquiring an additional 595 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE raised its stake in Peoples Bancorp by 172.8% during the 4th quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 1,094 shares of the bank’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 693 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Peoples Bancorp by 7.8% during the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 18,430 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $584,000 after purchasing an additional 1,339 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Spire Wealth Management bought a new position in shares of Peoples Bancorp in the fourth quarter worth approximately $43,000. Institutional investors own 60.68% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Peoples Bancorp

In related news, Director Carol A. Schneeberger sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.20, for a total value of $30,200.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 25,686 shares in the company, valued at approximately $775,717.20. The trade was a 3.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 3.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Piper Sandler lifted their target price 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. Stephens lowered their price objective on Peoples Bancorp from $37.50 to $33.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, DA Davidson cut their target price on Peoples Bancorp from $39.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd.

Peoples Bancorp Stock Performance

PEBO opened at $29.46 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.83. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.90 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a fifty day moving average of $29.30 and a 200 day moving average of $31.65. Peoples Bancorp Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $26.21 and a fifty-two week high of $37.07.

Peoples Bancorp (NASDAQ:PEBO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 22nd. The bank reported $0.69 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.73 by ($0.04). The firm had revenue of $113.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $112.76 million. Peoples Bancorp had a net margin of 18.90% and a return on equity of 11.07%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.85 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Peoples Bancorp Inc. will post 3.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Peoples Bancorp Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 19th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 5th will be paid a $0.41 dividend. This is an increase from Peoples Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 5th. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.57%. Peoples Bancorp’s payout ratio is presently 52.06%.

Peoples Bancorp 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.