Brown Advisory Inc. Lowers Stock Holdings in Peoples Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ:PEBO)

Brown Advisory Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Peoples Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ:PEBO - Free Report) by 1.7% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 788,587 shares of the bank's stock after selling 13,937 shares during the quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. owned about 2.21% of Peoples Bancorp worth $23,390,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PEBO. D.A. Davidson & CO. increased its stake in shares of Peoples Bancorp by 1.6% during the 1st quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 24,400 shares of the bank's stock valued at $724,000 after acquiring an additional 391 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in Peoples Bancorp by 3.8% during the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 19,137 shares of the bank's stock worth $568,000 after purchasing an additional 707 shares during the last quarter. Uncommon Cents Investing LLC raised its stake in Peoples Bancorp by 4.7% during the first quarter. Uncommon Cents Investing LLC now owns 41,290 shares of the bank's stock worth $1,225,000 after purchasing an additional 1,850 shares during the period. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Peoples Bancorp by 34.0% in the 1st quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 36,583 shares of the bank's stock valued at $1,085,000 after purchasing an additional 9,292 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wedge Capital Management L L P NC boosted its holdings in shares of Peoples Bancorp by 18.1% in the 1st quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 26,700 shares of the bank's stock valued at $792,000 after purchasing an additional 4,092 shares during the last quarter. 60.68% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Peoples Bancorp

In other news, Director Carol A. Schneeberger sold 1,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.76, for a total transaction of $31,760.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 25,330 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $804,480.80. The trade was a 3.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders have sold a total of 1,962 shares of company stock valued at $61,110 over the last three months. 3.41% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Peoples Bancorp Stock Performance

NASDAQ:PEBO opened at $31.85 on Thursday. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $30.05 and its 200 day simple moving average is $30.43. The company has a current ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. Peoples Bancorp Inc. has a twelve month low of $26.21 and a twelve month high of $37.07. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.11 and a beta of 0.65.

Peoples Bancorp (NASDAQ:PEBO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 22nd. The bank reported $0.69 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.73 by ($0.04). Peoples Bancorp had a net margin of 18.10% and a return on equity of 10.36%. The company had revenue of $113.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $112.76 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.85 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Peoples Bancorp Inc. will post 3.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Peoples Bancorp Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 19th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 5th were issued a $0.41 dividend. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.15%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 5th. This is a boost from Peoples Bancorp's previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Peoples Bancorp's dividend payout ratio is currently 52.06%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently commented on PEBO shares. Wall Street Zen upgraded Peoples Bancorp from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, May 24th. DA Davidson dropped their price target on Peoples Bancorp from $39.00 to $35.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Stephens reduced their price objective on Peoples Bancorp from $37.50 to $33.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued 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 $36.00.

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.

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