Trexquant Investment LP Trims Stock Position in Peoples Bancorp Inc. $PEBO

Key Points

• Trexquant Investment LP reduced its stake in Peoples Bancorp Inc. by 46.6%, owning approximately 0.06% of the company after selling 17,715 shares.
• Peoples Bancorp announced a quarterly dividend of $0.41 per share, yielding 5.3% annually, with a payout ratio of 56.16%.
• Peoples Bancorp's stock price recently opened at $30.91, experiencing a 0.8% decline, and analysts have set an average price target of $35.25 for the stock.

Trexquant Investment LP lowered its stake in Peoples Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ:PEBO - Free Report) by 46.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 20,282 shares of the bank's stock after selling 17,715 shares during the period. Trexquant Investment LP owned approximately 0.06% of Peoples Bancorp worth $602,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of Peoples Bancorp by 1,426.3% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,610 shares of the bank's stock valued at $77,000 after purchasing an additional 2,439 shares during the period. CWM LLC increased its holdings in shares of Peoples Bancorp by 86.7% in the first quarter. CWM LLC now owns 4,976 shares of the bank's stock valued at $148,000 after purchasing an additional 2,311 shares during the period. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. acquired a new position in shares of Peoples Bancorp in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $215,000. Moody National Bank Trust Division acquired a new position in shares of Peoples Bancorp in the first quarter valued at approximately $229,000. Finally, Ieq Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Peoples Bancorp in the first quarter valued at approximately $242,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.68% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Carol A. Schneeberger sold 1,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.83, for a total value of $30,830.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 24,330 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $750,093.90. The trade was a 3.95% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Dwight Eric Smith bought 1,060 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 24th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $30.27 per share, with a total value of $32,086.20. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 6,999 shares in the company, valued at $211,859.73. The trade was 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.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently weighed in on PEBO. Wall Street Zen downgraded Peoples Bancorp from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 2nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of Peoples Bancorp from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Peoples Bancorp has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $35.25.

Peoples Bancorp Price Performance

Shares of Peoples Bancorp stock traded down $0.31 on Friday, hitting $30.32. The company's stock had a trading volume of 80,733 shares, compared to its average volume of 125,866. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. Peoples Bancorp Inc. has a 52-week low of $26.21 and a 52-week high of $37.07. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $30.24 and a 200-day moving average price of $29.78. The company has a market capitalization of $1.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.38 and a beta of 0.67.

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). Peoples Bancorp had a net margin of 16.88% and a return on equity of 9.46%. The firm had revenue of $115.02 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $113.20 million. On average, equities research analysts expect that Peoples Bancorp Inc. will post 3.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Peoples Bancorp Announces Dividend

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

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.