Cerity Partners LLC Trims Stake in Peoples Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ:PEBO)

Cerity Partners LLC trimmed its position in Peoples Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ:PEBO - Free Report) by 49.6% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 20,385 shares of the bank's stock after selling 20,047 shares during the quarter. Cerity Partners LLC owned 0.06% of Peoples Bancorp worth $605,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Deutsche Bank AG raised its position in shares of Peoples Bancorp by 55.0% in the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 29,279 shares of the bank's stock worth $928,000 after acquiring an additional 10,394 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its position in shares of Peoples Bancorp by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 22,488 shares of the bank's stock worth $713,000 after acquiring an additional 782 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Peoples Bancorp by 3.8% in the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 19,137 shares of the bank's stock worth $568,000 after acquiring an additional 707 shares in the last quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. increased its position in Peoples Bancorp by 34.0% during the 1st quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 36,583 shares of the bank's stock valued at $1,085,000 after buying an additional 9,292 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen Asset Management LLC increased its position in Peoples Bancorp by 55.4% during the 4th quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 184,074 shares of the bank's stock valued at $5,833,000 after buying an additional 65,612 shares in the last quarter. 60.68% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on PEBO. Stephens reduced their target price on Peoples Bancorp from $37.50 to $33.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. DA Davidson reduced 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, April 23rd. Wall Street Zen raised Peoples Bancorp from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, May 24th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on Peoples Bancorp from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Peoples Bancorp presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $35.25.

Peoples Bancorp Stock Performance

Shares of PEBO traded up $0.34 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $29.39. The company had a trading volume of 338,139 shares, compared to its average volume of 188,743. Peoples Bancorp Inc. has a 52-week low of $26.21 and a 52-week high of $37.07. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.07 and a beta of 0.65. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $30.28 and a two-hundred day moving average of $30.35.

Peoples Bancorp (NASDAQ:PEBO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 22nd. The bank reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.78 by ($0.18). The business had revenue of $115.02 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $113.20 million. Peoples Bancorp had a return on equity of 9.52% and a net margin of 16.88%. On average, analysts expect that Peoples Bancorp Inc. will post 3.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Peoples Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 18th. Investors of record on Monday, August 4th will be issued a $0.41 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 4th. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.58%. Peoples Bancorp's dividend payout ratio is presently 56.16%.

Insider Activity at Peoples Bancorp

In other news, Director Carol A. Schneeberger sold 1,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.76, for a total transaction of $31,760.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 25,330 shares in the company, valued at $804,480.80. This trade represents a 3.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders sold a total of 1,962 shares of company stock valued at $61,110 over the last ninety days. 3.41% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.