Vanguard Group Inc. Buys 35,358 Shares of Peoples Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ:PEBO)

Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Peoples Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ:PEBO - Free Report) by 1.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,002,366 shares of the bank's stock after buying an additional 35,358 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 5.63% of Peoples Bancorp worth $63,455,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Shoker Investment Counsel Inc. grew its position in shares of Peoples Bancorp by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Shoker Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 31,467 shares of the bank's stock valued at $997,000 after purchasing an additional 316 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its position in Peoples Bancorp by 42.0% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,252 shares of the bank's stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 370 shares in the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System boosted its stake in Peoples Bancorp by 6.1% in 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 during the period. US Bancorp DE increased its holdings in 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. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. raised 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 purchasing an additional 1,339 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 60.68% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Peoples Bancorp

In other news, Director Carol A. Schneeberger sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.83, for a total transaction of $32,830.00. Following the completion of 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 3.41% of the company's stock.

Peoples Bancorp Stock Performance

Shares of PEBO traded up $0.21 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $27.90. The stock had a trading volume of 37,842 shares, compared to its average volume of 144,615. The company has a current ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $30.09 and a 200-day simple moving average of $31.70. The firm has a market cap of $995.01 million, a PE ratio of 8.42 and a beta of 0.63. Peoples Bancorp Inc. has a one year low of $26.21 and a one year high of $37.07.

Peoples Bancorp (NASDAQ:PEBO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 21st. The bank reported $0.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 previous year, the business earned $1.04 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Peoples Bancorp Inc. will post 3.28 EPS for the current year.

Peoples Bancorp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.74%. Peoples Bancorp's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 48.34%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on PEBO. Stephens reissued an "equal weight" rating and issued a $37.50 target price on shares of Peoples Bancorp in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of Peoples Bancorp from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, DA Davidson cut their price target 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. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $38.38.

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.