Alliancebernstein L.P. Sells 36,983 Shares of Peoples Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ:PEBO)

Alliancebernstein L.P. lessened its holdings in shares of Peoples Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ:PEBO - Free Report) by 6.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 572,786 shares of the bank's stock after selling 36,983 shares during the quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. owned approximately 1.61% of Peoples Bancorp worth $18,152,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in PEBO. Shoker Investment Counsel Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Peoples Bancorp by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Shoker Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 31,467 shares of the bank's stock worth $997,000 after acquiring an additional 316 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 370 shares in the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System raised its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 595 shares in the last quarter. US Bancorp DE lifted its holdings 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 valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 693 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Peoples Bancorp by 7.8% in the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 18,430 shares of the bank's stock valued at $584,000 after buying an additional 1,339 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.68% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. DA Davidson cut their price objective on shares of Peoples Bancorp from $42.00 to $40.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Piper Sandler raised their price target on shares of Peoples Bancorp from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, Stephens reiterated an "equal weight" rating and issued a $37.50 price objective on shares of Peoples Bancorp in a report 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 company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $38.38.

Peoples Bancorp Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PEBO traded down $0.16 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $26.85. 160,900 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 130,970. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.83. The company's 50-day moving average price is $30.45 and its 200-day moving average price is $31.76. The stock has a market capitalization of $957.74 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.11 and a beta of 0.63. Peoples Bancorp Inc. has a 1-year low of $26.21 and a 1-year high of $37.07.

Peoples Bancorp (NASDAQ:PEBO - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 21st. The bank reported $0.76 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 earned $1.04 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Peoples Bancorp Inc. will post 3.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Peoples Bancorp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.96%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 3rd. Peoples Bancorp's payout ratio is 48.34%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Carol A. Schneeberger sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.83, for a total transaction of $32,830.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 26,686 shares in the company, valued at $876,101.38. This represents a 3.61 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 3.41% of the stock is owned by company 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.