Raymond James Financial Inc. Buys Shares of 66,958 Peoples Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ:PEBO)

Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Peoples Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ:PEBO) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 66,958 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $2,122,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. US Bancorp DE raised its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 693 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its position in Peoples Bancorp by 42.0% during the 3rd 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. Spire Wealth Management acquired a new position in shares of Peoples Bancorp during the 4th quarter worth approximately $43,000. Quantbot Technologies LP raised its holdings in Peoples Bancorp by 223.3% in the 3rd quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 3,964 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $119,000 after acquiring an additional 2,738 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new stake in Peoples Bancorp during the third quarter worth about $297,000. 60.68% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have issued reports on PEBO shares. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on Peoples Bancorp from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on shares of Peoples Bancorp from $32.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Stephens reissued an “equal weight” rating and set a $37.50 target price on shares of Peoples Bancorp in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, DA Davidson lowered their target price on Peoples Bancorp from $42.00 to $40.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $36.90.

Peoples Bancorp Stock Performance

PEBO stock opened at $29.77 on Monday. Peoples Bancorp Inc. has a 12-month low of $27.10 and a 12-month high of $37.07. The firm has a market cap of $1.06 billion, a PE ratio of 8.99 and a beta of 0.75. The business has a 50 day moving average of $31.53 and a 200-day moving average of $32.01. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21.

Peoples Bancorp (NASDAQ:PEBO) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, January 21st. The bank reported $0.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.75 by $0.01. Peoples Bancorp had a return on equity of 11.07% and a net margin of 18.90%. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.04 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Peoples Bancorp Inc. will post 3.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Peoples Bancorp Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Investors of record on Monday, February 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.37%. 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 stock was 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 owns 25,686 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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 available at this hyperlink. Insiders have sold 3,000 shares of company stock worth $94,050 in the last three months. 3.41% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.