EMC Capital Management Acquires 51,006 Shares of Peoples Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ:PEBO)

EMC Capital Management grew its position in shares of Peoples Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ:PEBO - Free Report) by 787.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 57,485 shares of the bank's stock after acquiring an additional 51,006 shares during the quarter. EMC Capital Management owned about 0.16% of Peoples Bancorp worth $1,730,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in Peoples Bancorp by 0.3% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,465,385 shares of the bank's stock worth $73,960,000 after buying an additional 6,712 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Peoples Bancorp by 1.0% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,904,357 shares of the bank's stock worth $56,388,000 after buying an additional 18,272 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in Peoples Bancorp by 26.7% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 586,015 shares of the bank's stock worth $17,580,000 after buying an additional 123,423 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in Peoples Bancorp by 1.4% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 318,966 shares of the bank's stock worth $9,569,000 after buying an additional 4,270 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Peoples Bancorp by 8.2% during the first quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 272,372 shares of the bank's stock worth $8,065,000 after buying an additional 20,732 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 60.68% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Peoples Bancorp Stock Performance

PEBO stock traded up $0.05 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $30.83. The company's stock had a trading volume of 141,944 shares, compared to its average volume of 118,762. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $30.67 and its 200 day moving average price is $30.25. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. Peoples Bancorp Inc. has a 1 year low of $26.74 and a 1 year high of $34.85. The stock has a market cap of $1.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.78 and a beta of 0.74.

Peoples Bancorp (NASDAQ:PEBO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The bank reported $0.89 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.82 by $0.07. Peoples Bancorp had a return on equity of 12.01% and a net margin of 20.16%. The business had revenue of $158.41 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $112.30 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.06 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Peoples Bancorp Inc. will post 3.31 EPS for the current year.

Peoples Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 4th will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 4th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.19%. Peoples Bancorp's dividend payout ratio is presently 45.58%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Carol A. Schneeberger sold 1,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.33, for a total transaction of $30,330.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 29,963 shares of the company's stock, valued at $908,777.79. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders have sold 2,541 shares of company stock valued at $77,406 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 3.46% of the company's stock.

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.