Buckingham Capital Management Inc. Sells 4,920 Shares of Peoples Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ:PEBO)

Buckingham Capital Management Inc. lessened its position in shares of Peoples Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ:PEBO) by 36.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 8,469 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 4,920 shares during the period. Buckingham Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Peoples Bancorp were worth $268,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. FMR LLC boosted its position in Peoples Bancorp by 42.0% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,252 shares of the bank’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 370 shares during the period. Spire Wealth Management purchased a new stake in shares of Peoples Bancorp during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $43,000. CWM LLC boosted its holdings in Peoples Bancorp by 503.9% in the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,860 shares of the bank’s stock worth $56,000 after buying an additional 1,552 shares during the period. nVerses Capital LLC grew its stake in Peoples Bancorp by 322.2% in the 3rd quarter. nVerses Capital LLC now owns 3,800 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $114,000 after buying an additional 2,900 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP grew its stake in Peoples Bancorp by 223.3% in the 3rd quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 3,964 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $119,000 after buying an additional 2,738 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 60.68% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on PEBO. Piper Sandler raised their price target on Peoples Bancorp from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Stephens reissued an “equal weight” rating and set a $37.50 price objective on shares of Peoples Bancorp in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on Peoples Bancorp from $32.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, DA Davidson decreased their price target on Peoples Bancorp from $42.00 to $40.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Peoples Bancorp has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $36.90.

Peoples Bancorp Price Performance

Peoples Bancorp stock opened at $32.66 on Tuesday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $32.41 and a 200 day simple moving average of $31.96. Peoples Bancorp Inc. has a 52 week low of $26.74 and a 52 week high of $37.07. The stock has a market cap of $1.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.87 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21.

Peoples Bancorp (NASDAQ:PEBO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 21st. The bank reported $0.76 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.01. Peoples Bancorp had a net margin of 18.90% and a return on equity of 11.07%. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.04 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Peoples Bancorp Inc. will post 3.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Peoples Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd will be issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.90%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 3rd. Peoples Bancorp’s payout ratio is 48.34%.

Insider Activity

In other Peoples Bancorp news, Director Carol A. Schneeberger sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.02, for a total transaction of $31,020.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 27,686 shares in the company, valued at $858,819.72. This trade represents a 3.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director David F. Dierker sold 2,000 shares of Peoples Bancorp stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.36, for a total transaction of $70,720.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 1,214 shares in the company, valued at $42,927.04. This trade represents a 62.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 5,000 shares of company stock worth $169,390. 3.46% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.