Bfsg LLC Takes $174,000 Position in Peoples Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ:PEBO)

Bfsg LLC purchased a new position in Peoples Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ:PEBO) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 5,162 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $174,000.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Peoples Bancorp by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,733,426 shares of the bank’s stock worth $43,994,000 after purchasing an additional 12,449 shares in the last quarter. Private Management Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Peoples Bancorp by 8.7% during the 3rd quarter. Private Management Group Inc. now owns 634,249 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $16,097,000 after buying an additional 50,701 shares during the last quarter. Peoples Bank OH boosted its holdings in Peoples Bancorp by 0.9% in the third quarter. Peoples Bank OH now owns 609,323 shares of the bank’s stock worth $15,465,000 after purchasing an additional 5,721 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in Peoples Bancorp by 15.0% in the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 273,435 shares of the bank’s stock worth $6,940,000 after purchasing an additional 35,603 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Peoples Bancorp by 5.4% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 258,240 shares of the bank’s stock worth $6,554,000 after purchasing an additional 13,227 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.68% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated a “market perform” rating and set a $33.00 price objective (down from $36.00) on shares of Peoples Bancorp in a research note on Wednesday. Stephens restated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $34.00 target price on shares of Peoples Bancorp in a report on Wednesday. Hovde Group assumed coverage on Peoples Bancorp in a research report on Monday, April 1st. They set a “market perform” rating and a $31.00 price objective on the stock. StockNews.com lowered Peoples Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Finally, Piper Sandler assumed coverage on Peoples Bancorp in a report on Friday, February 23rd. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $34.00 price target for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $33.40.

Peoples Bancorp Stock Down 1.4 %

PEBO stock traded down $0.41 during trading on Thursday, reaching $29.63. 25,986 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 124,291. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $28.25 and its 200 day moving average is $29.32. Peoples Bancorp Inc. has a twelve month low of $23.05 and a twelve month high of $34.85. 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 market cap of $1.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.99 and a beta of 0.76.

Peoples Bancorp (NASDAQ:PEBO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 23rd. The bank reported $1.04 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.94 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $112.92 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $115.00 million. Peoples Bancorp had a return on equity of 12.93% and a net margin of 20.17%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Peoples Bancorp Inc. will post 3.39 EPS for the current year.

Peoples Bancorp Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 20th. Investors of record on Monday, May 6th will be given a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 3rd. This is an increase from Peoples Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. Peoples Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 46.71%.

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.