First Trust Advisors LP Boosts Stock Holdings in Peoples Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ:PEBO)

First Trust Advisors LP lifted its position in Peoples Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ:PEBO - Free Report) by 7.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 134,700 shares of the bank's stock after acquiring an additional 9,388 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP owned 0.38% of Peoples Bancorp worth $4,269,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in Peoples Bancorp by 28.2% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 451,788 shares of the bank's stock worth $14,317,000 after purchasing an additional 99,300 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in Peoples Bancorp by 11.8% during the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 758,215 shares of the bank's stock worth $24,028,000 after buying an additional 79,818 shares in the last quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Peoples Bancorp during the fourth quarter worth $2,464,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Peoples Bancorp in the 4th quarter valued at $2,122,000. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in shares of Peoples Bancorp by 87.1% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 115,352 shares of the bank's stock worth $3,656,000 after acquiring an additional 53,707 shares during the last quarter. 60.68% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Peoples Bancorp

In other news, Director Carol A. Schneeberger sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.20, for a total transaction of $30,200.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 25,686 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $775,717.20. This represents a 3.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 3.41% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on PEBO. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of Peoples Bancorp from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. DA Davidson dropped their price target on shares of 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 cut their price target on shares of Peoples Bancorp from $37.50 to $33.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd.

Peoples Bancorp Trading Up 2.2 %

Shares of PEBO stock opened at $29.84 on Friday. Peoples Bancorp Inc. has a 1-year low of $26.21 and a 1-year high of $37.07. The firm has a market cap of $1.06 billion, a PE ratio of 9.02 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a 50-day moving average of $29.16 and a two-hundred day moving average of $31.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.83.

Peoples Bancorp (NASDAQ:PEBO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 22nd. The bank reported $0.69 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.73 by ($0.04). Peoples Bancorp had a return on equity of 11.07% and a net margin of 18.90%. The company had revenue of $113.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $112.76 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.85 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Peoples Bancorp Inc. will post 3.28 EPS for the current year.

Peoples Bancorp Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 19th. Investors of record on Monday, May 5th will be paid a dividend of $0.41 per share. This is a positive change from Peoples Bancorp's previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 5th. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.50%. Peoples Bancorp's dividend payout ratio is presently 52.06%.

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.

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