Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. Decreases Stake in Peoples Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ:PEBO)

Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of Peoples Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ:PEBO - Free Report) by 77.5% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 7,971 shares of the bank's stock after selling 27,487 shares during the period. Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc.'s holdings in Peoples Bancorp were worth $240,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. nVerses Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Peoples Bancorp during the second quarter valued at $27,000. Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Peoples Bancorp during the second quarter valued at approximately $46,000. CWM LLC boosted its holdings in Peoples Bancorp by 503.9% in the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,860 shares of the bank's stock worth $56,000 after purchasing an additional 1,552 shares during the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC grew its position in Peoples Bancorp by 20,273.3% in the 2nd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 3,056 shares of the bank's stock worth $92,000 after purchasing an additional 3,041 shares during the period. Finally, Future Financial Wealth Managment LLC bought a new stake in Peoples Bancorp in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $123,000. Institutional investors own 60.68% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Piper Sandler reduced their price target on shares of Peoples Bancorp from $39.00 to $36.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Peoples Bancorp currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $33.50.

Peoples Bancorp Stock Performance

NASDAQ:PEBO traded down $0.14 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $34.86. 101,012 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 127,376. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.93 and a beta of 0.74. Peoples Bancorp Inc. has a 52-week low of $26.74 and a 52-week high of $36.19. 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 $31.44 and its 200-day moving average price is $30.72.

Peoples Bancorp (NASDAQ:PEBO - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The bank reported $0.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.82 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $158.41 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $112.30 million. Peoples Bancorp had a net margin of 20.16% and a return on equity of 11.84%. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.06 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Peoples Bancorp Inc. will post 3.31 earnings per share for the current year.

Peoples Bancorp Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 18th. Investors of record on Monday, November 4th were issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.59%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 4th. Peoples Bancorp's dividend payout ratio is currently 45.58%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Carol A. Schneeberger sold 1,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.33, for a total value of $30,330.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 29,963 shares of the company's stock, valued at $908,777.79. This trade represents a 3.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director S Craig Beam sold 4,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.31, for a total transaction of $137,240.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 23,760 shares in the company, valued at approximately $815,205.60. This trade represents a 14.41 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 10,445 shares of company stock valued at $348,956 over the last 90 days. 3.46% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.