Peoples Bancorp (NASDAQ:PEBO) Stock Rating Upgraded by DA Davidson

Key Points

• Peoples Bancorp (NASDAQ:PEBO) has received an upgrade to a "strong-buy" rating from DA Davidson, indicating positive sentiment from analysts.
• The company's stock has experienced mixed ratings recently, with one analyst giving a "strong buy", one a "buy", and four others issuing "hold" ratings, leading to an average rating of "Moderate Buy".
• Peoples Bancorp reported a net margin of 16.88% and a revenue of $115.02 million for the last quarter, outperforming consensus estimates while the earnings per share missed expectations.

Peoples Bancorp (NASDAQ:PEBO - Get Free Report) was upgraded by research analysts at DA Davidson to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report issued on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

PEBO has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "hold (c+)" rating on shares of Peoples Bancorp in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Zacks Research raised Peoples Bancorp from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, September 22nd. Wall Street Zen downgraded Peoples Bancorp from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Friday, October 3rd. 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has given a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Peoples Bancorp currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $35.25.

Peoples Bancorp Price Performance

NASDAQ PEBO opened at $28.70 on Monday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $30.08 and a 200 day simple moving average of $29.73. Peoples Bancorp has a 52-week low of $26.21 and a 52-week 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 market cap of $1.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.83 and a beta of 0.63.

Peoples Bancorp (NASDAQ:PEBO - Get Free Report) last posted its 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). Peoples Bancorp had a return on equity of 9.46% and a net margin of 16.88%.The business had revenue of $115.02 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $113.20 million. Analysts anticipate that Peoples Bancorp will post 3.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Peoples Bancorp

In other news, Director Dwight Eric Smith acquired 1,060 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 24th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $30.27 per share, for a total transaction of $32,086.20. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 6,999 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $211,859.73. This represents a 17.85% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Carol A. Schneeberger sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.22, for a total value of $30,220.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 23,767 shares in the company, valued at $718,238.74. The trade was a 4.04% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 3.41% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Parallel Advisors LLC increased its position in Peoples Bancorp by 132.3% during the 2nd quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 864 shares of the bank's stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 492 shares during the period. Strs Ohio bought a new position in shares of Peoples Bancorp in the first quarter worth $62,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position 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 worth $77,000 after purchasing an additional 2,439 shares during the period. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Peoples Bancorp by 31.9% in the second quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,931 shares of the bank's stock worth $90,000 after purchasing an additional 709 shares during the period. Finally, Tower Research Capital LLC TRC increased its position in shares of Peoples Bancorp by 1,191.0% in the second quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 3,718 shares of the bank's stock worth $114,000 after purchasing an additional 3,430 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 60.68% of the company's stock.

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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