JPMorgan Chase & Co. Has $3.66 Million Position in Peoples Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ:PEBO)

JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in shares of Peoples Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ:PEBO - Free Report) by 87.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 115,352 shares of the bank's stock after buying an additional 53,707 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. owned 0.32% of Peoples Bancorp worth $3,656,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. EntryPoint Capital LLC purchased a new position in Peoples Bancorp in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $255,000. Prudential Financial Inc. raised its stake in shares of Peoples Bancorp by 20.6% in the 4th quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 31,624 shares of the bank's stock valued at $1,002,000 after acquiring an additional 5,400 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Peoples Bancorp by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,002,366 shares of the bank's stock worth $63,455,000 after purchasing an additional 35,358 shares in the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC lifted its position in Peoples Bancorp by 17.8% during the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 18,924 shares of the bank's stock worth $600,000 after acquiring an additional 2,857 shares in the last quarter. Finally, KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS acquired a new position in shares of Peoples Bancorp during the fourth quarter worth $241,000. 60.68% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Carol A. Schneeberger sold 1,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.20, for a total value of $30,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 25,686 shares in the company, valued at approximately $775,717.20. This trade represents a 3.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 3.41% of the company's stock.

Peoples Bancorp Stock Up 1.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ:PEBO traded up $0.39 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $28.48. 220,232 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 132,953. The company has a market capitalization of $1.02 billion, a PE ratio of 8.60 and a beta of 0.63. 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 52-week low of $26.21 and a 52-week high of $37.07. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $29.69 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $31.67.

Peoples Bancorp (NASDAQ:PEBO - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The bank reported $0.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.73 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $113.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $112.76 million. 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 company earned $0.85 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Peoples Bancorp Inc. will post 3.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Peoples Bancorp Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 19th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 5th will be given a dividend of $0.41 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 5th. This is a boost from Peoples Bancorp's previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.76%. Peoples Bancorp's payout ratio is currently 48.34%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PEBO has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Stephens cut their price target on shares of Peoples Bancorp from $37.50 to $33.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. DA Davidson dropped their target price on Peoples Bancorp from $39.00 to $35.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on Peoples Bancorp from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Three 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, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $36.00.

Peoples Bancorp Company 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.