American Century Companies Inc. Buys 79,818 Shares of Peoples Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ:PEBO)

American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position in shares of Peoples Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ:PEBO - Free Report) by 11.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 758,215 shares of the bank's stock after acquiring an additional 79,818 shares during the quarter. American Century Companies Inc. owned 2.13% of Peoples Bancorp worth $24,028,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PEBO. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Peoples Bancorp by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,027,413 shares of the bank's stock valued at $30,915,000 after purchasing an additional 14,426 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Peoples Bancorp by 2.7% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 850,654 shares of the bank's stock valued at $25,601,000 after buying an additional 22,285 shares during the period. Peoples Bank OH lifted its position in shares of Peoples Bancorp by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Peoples Bank OH now owns 590,905 shares of the bank's stock valued at $18,726,000 after buying an additional 6,250 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in shares of Peoples Bancorp by 153.6% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 352,488 shares of the bank's stock worth $10,606,000 after acquiring an additional 213,488 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Peoples Bancorp by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 295,203 shares of the bank's stock valued at $8,883,000 after acquiring an additional 5,071 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.68% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of Peoples Bancorp from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock 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 report on Wednesday, December 4th. Stephens reissued an "equal weight" rating and issued a $37.50 price target on shares of Peoples Bancorp in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, DA Davidson reduced their price objective on Peoples Bancorp from $42.00 to $40.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $38.38.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Carol A. Schneeberger sold 1,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the director now owns 25,686 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $775,717.20. This trade represents a 3.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders have sold a total of 3,000 shares of company stock worth $94,050 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 3.41% of the company's stock.

Peoples Bancorp Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PEBO traded down $2.27 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $27.55. The company's stock had a trading volume of 209,809 shares, compared to its average volume of 128,876. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.83. Peoples Bancorp Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $27.10 and a fifty-two week high of $37.07. The company has a market cap of $982.71 million, a P/E ratio of 8.32 and a beta of 0.63. The business's 50 day moving average price is $31.31 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $31.95.

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 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 quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.04 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Peoples Bancorp Inc. will post 3.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Peoples Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Investors of record on Monday, February 3rd were issued a $0.40 dividend. 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 5.81%. Peoples Bancorp's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 48.34%.

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.