Bridgeway Capital Management LLC Sells 31,842 Shares of Peoples Bancorp Inc. $PEBO

Key Points

• Bridgeway Capital Management LLC reduced its holdings in Peoples Bancorp Inc. by 9.9%, owning 288,814 shares after selling 31,842 shares in the 1st quarter.
• The recent earnings report showed Peoples Bancorp missed the consensus EPS estimate of $0.78, reporting only $0.60, despite revenue exceeding expectations.
• Peoples Bancorp announced a quarterly dividend of $0.41, with an annualized yield of 5.3%, and a payout ratio of 56.16%.

Bridgeway Capital Management LLC lowered its position in Peoples Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ:PEBO - Free Report) by 9.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 288,814 shares of the bank's stock after selling 31,842 shares during the period. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC owned about 0.81% of Peoples Bancorp worth $8,566,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of Peoples Bancorp by 1,426.3% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,610 shares of the bank's stock valued at $77,000 after buying an additional 2,439 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC increased its position in shares of Peoples Bancorp by 86.7% in the 1st quarter. CWM LLC now owns 4,976 shares of the bank's stock valued at $148,000 after buying an additional 2,311 shares in the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. bought a new stake in Peoples Bancorp in the 4th quarter valued at $215,000. Moody National Bank Trust Division bought a new stake in Peoples Bancorp in the 1st quarter valued at $229,000. Finally, Ieq Capital LLC bought a new stake in Peoples Bancorp in the 1st quarter valued at $242,000. Institutional investors own 60.68% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently commented on PEBO. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of Peoples Bancorp from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Peoples Bancorp from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Saturday, August 2nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $35.25.

Peoples Bancorp Stock Up 0.6%

NASDAQ:PEBO traded up $0.18 on Monday, hitting $31.09. 70,747 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 154,591. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.82. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $30.34 and a 200-day moving average price of $29.79. Peoples Bancorp Inc. has a 52 week low of $26.21 and a 52 week high of $37.07. The company has a market cap of $1.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.65 and a beta of 0.67.

Peoples Bancorp (NASDAQ:PEBO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 22nd. The bank reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.78 by ($0.18). Peoples Bancorp had a return on equity of 9.46% and a net margin of 16.88%.The firm had revenue of $115.02 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $113.20 million. As a group, analysts expect that Peoples Bancorp Inc. will post 3.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Peoples Bancorp Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 4th were issued a $0.41 dividend. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 4th. Peoples Bancorp's dividend payout ratio is presently 56.16%.

Insider Transactions at Peoples Bancorp

In other news, Director Dwight Eric Smith bought 1,060 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 24th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $30.27 per share, with a total value of $32,086.20. Following the acquisition, the director owned 6,999 shares in the company, valued at $211,859.73. This trade represents a 17.85% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Carol A. Schneeberger sold 1,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.76, for a total transaction of $31,760.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 25,330 shares in the company, valued at approximately $804,480.80. The trade was a 3.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 3.41% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.