Ieq Capital LLC Buys New Stake in Peoples Bancorp Inc. $PEBO

Key Points

• Ieq Capital LLC has acquired 8,161 shares of Peoples Bancorp Inc., valued at approximately $242,000, as per their recent SEC 13F filing.
• Peoples Bancorp reported earnings of $0.60 per share for the latest quarter, which fell short of analysts' expectations by $0.18.
• The company recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.41 per share, yielding 5.3%, with a payout ratio of 56.16%.

Ieq Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Peoples Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ:PEBO - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 8,161 shares of the bank's stock, valued at approximately $242,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of PEBO. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC purchased a new position in shares of Peoples Bancorp during the first quarter worth approximately $4,986,000. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in Peoples Bancorp during the first quarter valued at approximately $3,721,000. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in Peoples Bancorp by 28.2% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 451,788 shares of the bank's stock valued at $14,317,000 after buying an additional 99,300 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in Peoples Bancorp by 12.7% during the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 854,771 shares of the bank's stock valued at $25,353,000 after buying an additional 96,556 shares during the period. Finally, Nuveen Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Peoples Bancorp by 55.4% during the fourth 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 during the period. 60.68% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Peoples Bancorp

In other news, Director Carol A. Schneeberger sold 1,000 shares of Peoples Bancorp stock in a transaction on Monday, September 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.83, for a total transaction of $30,830.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 24,330 shares in the company, valued at approximately $750,093.90. The trade was a 3.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Dwight Eric Smith acquired 1,060 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 24th. The shares were bought at an average price of $30.27 per share, with a total value of $32,086.20. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 6,999 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $211,859.73. This trade represents a 17.85% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 3.41% of the company's stock.

Peoples Bancorp Stock Down 1.0%

PEBO traded down $0.31 during trading on Friday, hitting $30.32. The stock had a trading volume of 80,733 shares, compared to its average volume of 125,866. The company has a market capitalization of $1.08 billion, a PE ratio of 10.38 and a beta of 0.67. Peoples Bancorp Inc. has a twelve month low of $26.21 and a twelve month high of $37.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.82. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $30.24 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $29.78.

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

Peoples Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 4th were paid a dividend of $0.41 per share. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.4%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 4th. Peoples Bancorp's payout ratio is presently 56.16%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

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.